CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Police say three men inspired by the Islamic State group have been charged with planning a mass-casualty attack in Melbourne, the nation's second-largest city.
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton says the Australian citizens of Turkish descent were arrested Tuesday in their Melbourne homes in police raids before dawn.
They had had their passports cancelled this year because of security concerns.
The men — 21, 26 and 30 — will appear in a Melbourne court later Tuesday, charged with acting in preparation of a terrorist event. They each could face a life prison sentence if convicted.
In what police described as an Islamic State-inspired terrorist attack in Melbourne on Nov. 9, a man who had his passport cancelled in 2015 was shot dead by police after he fatally stabbed a 74-year-old man and injured two other people.
