New South Wales Police say they have arrested and are preparing to charge Arsalan Khawaja, Australian cricket star Usman Khawaja's brother, over what they allege was a planned attempt to frame a Sri Lankan student as a terrorist.
In a press conference police said that the 39-year-old man has been taken to Parramatta police station where he is in the process of being charged with two offences.
"The first being attempted preferred justice and forgery; a false document under the New South Wales Crime Act. A determination to bail for the man will follow those processes," the spokesman said.
The arrest is in relation to a notebook allegedly containing handwritten notes of a threatening nature that was located on the 30 August this year.
“This morning's arrest is the culmination of that investigation, and we have no information to suggest that there is any ongoing threat to the community arising from our inquiries into the matter.
“In relation to the charging and the subsequent dropping of the charge against the Sri Lankan citizen, we have offered, and have paid his court costs.
"We regret the circumstances which led to him being charged and the time he subsequently spent in custody. We feel very sorry for him and what was happened to him.
"But what we will be alleging is that he was set up in a planned and calculated manner. Motivated, in part, by a personal grievance.” The police official said.
Sri Lankan-born PhD student Mohamed Kamer Nizamdeen was earlier this year charged with a terror-related charge after his notebook was handed to police.
The notebook allegedly named several "symbolic" locations and individuals as "potential targets" of what police claim was a plan to commit a terrorist attack.
The 25-year-old was charged with collecting or making a document which is connected with preparation for, the engagement of a person in or assistance in a terrorist act on August 31.
The charges were later dropped in October and he was released when a handwriting expert could not prove he had written it.
Sri Lankan-born PhD student Mohamed Kamer Nizamdeen Source: Facebook
Waleed Bin Asim, from the Pakistan Student Society of UNSW, says he is shocked by the news.
"It is quite shocking and sad to hear such media reports as it brings a lot of negativity in the university's life," he told SBS Urdu.
"The students at the university focus on studies and try to get better grades for their career. News such as this affects all of us who are studying locally or coming from abroad."
