ANTI-TERRORISM laws rushed through the Australian Parliament last week have prevented a “catastrophic” attack by Islamic extremists, the Australian authorities claimed yesterday.

The legislation, approved despite opposition from civil liberties groups, enabled the police to seize 17 suspects in raids by 500 officers on 24 homes in Sydney and Melbourne yesterday.

One man, shot in the neck after allegedly opening fire on the police, was later identified as a former actor on the television soap Home and Away. Omar Baladjam, 28, played the part of a graffiti artist in the programme. On another occasion he appeared in the ABC crime drama Wildside, portraying a criminal who kills two policemen.

Police said that chemicals that could have been used in bombs were found in some of the houses raided. Ken Moroney, the New South Wales police commissioner, said: “I’m satisfied that we have disrupted what I would regard as the final stages of a terrorist attack or the launch of a terrorist attack.”

The chemicals were similar to those used in the London Underground attacks of July 7. The police would not identify the likely targets, but the suspects alluded to the transport system and the stock exchange in conversations monitored during months of surveillance.

Last night the Australian Government trumpeted the arrest of 16 Muslims in night time raids on homes in Sydney and Melbourne as vindication for its decision to introduce an urgent amendment to its controversial anti-terrorism Bill.

The key amendment to the Bill allowed the police to arrest the suspects on charges of intent to commit a terrorist attack, even if they could not specify the target. Carl Scully, the New South Wales Police Minister, said that that change had allowed his officers to prevent a “catastrophic act of terrorism”.

John Howard, the Prime Minister, who was accused of exaggerating the terrorist threat to ensure the Bill’s passage last week, claimed vindication. He said: “We were advised that the change would strengthen the capacity of the authorities to respond to the situation that had been identified, and it is the view of two police commissioners and the Victoria Premier that that is precisely what happened.”

Steve Bracks, the Victoria Premier, said the police had disrupted “probably the most serious preparation for a terrorist attack that we have seen in Australia”. Peter Costello, the Treasurer and Liberal Party deputy leader, said the raids proved that “the threat of terrorism is real, that we cannot be complacent about it . . . It is no consolation to wait until after an event and then try to pick up the suspects.”

The Bill is one of the most draconian pieces of legislation to have gone before parliament. It allows the detention of people for up to 14 days without charge and seven-year prison sentences for those found guilty of sedition.

The suspects detained in the raids were mainly Australian Muslims of Lebanese extraction. Their alleged leader was an outspoken cleric named Abdul Nacer Benbrika, also known as Abu Bakr, who was among those arrested in Melbourne. He came to prominence in August when he voiced his support for Osama bin Laden. Police and intelligence officers are believed to have identified him as a security risk earlier , but lacked the power to arrest him.

The suspects appeared before courts in Sydney and Melbourne yesterday on charges that included conspiring to plan a bomb attack and belonging to a banned organisation.

Melbourne magistrates were told that those arrested had formed a terrorist group designed to kill innocent men and women. The court was told that the group had been recorded discussing bombmaking and martyrdom. Several had allegedly undergone military-style training.

Police and security services refused to give details of the surveillance methods employed against those arrested, but sources indicated that telephones had been tapped and conversations monitored over many months.

Outside the Central Local Court in Sydney, Adam Houda, for the defence, said that the police had no evidence that a terrorist attack was being planned. “These matters are scandalous, political prosecutions that shame this nation,” he said. Families caught up in the raids accused the police of failing to respect their religious traditions by not allowing female members of households time to dress properly.

Fighting erupted outside the Melbourne court, where supporters of the accused men clashed with television cameramen and threw chairs at reporters.

The police said that more arrests could be expected as the anti-terrorism operation crackdown continued.

Explore World News

• World Agenda

• Iraq News

• US & Americas News

• Europe News

• Middle East News

• Asia News

• Africa News

• Ireland News

Times Recommends

• Michael Jackson: Not the final chapter
• Indian Army spends10m rupees on golf buggies
• Brüno toned down for 15 rating