Grand final target.

Provided by 7DAYS.ae

A group of Australian Muslims planned to attack a 2005 football final in Melbourne attended by 97,000 fans, Australia's biggest terrorism trial heardA yesterday. But security raids on the homes of some members of the group in July 2005, three months before the Australian Football League (AFL) grand final, forced the group to change its target and begin planning attacks on Melbourne's casino during a Formula One race weekend or another football match, the court heard.

Muslim spiritual leader Abdul Nacer Benbrika and 11 of his followers have pleaded not guilty to charges they planned a bomb attack to force Australia to withdraw its troops from Iraq. Australia has about 550 combat troops in Iraq, which it plans to withdraw by about the middle of this year. Australia also has about 1,000 troops in Afghanistan.

A former associate of the 12 men told the Victorian Supreme Court yesterday that Benbrika had told him the group was targeting the AFL grand final, the biggest football match in Australia each year. "He said the AFL grand final was the original target," Izzydeen Atik told the court. Atik said the AFL attack was cancelled after Australian security agents and police raided the homes of some members. He said the raids had raised security concerns among the group and robbed it of its finances, which were seized by authorities.

He said the group then decided to target Melbourne's Crown Casino during the city's Formula One Grand Prix and an AFL pre-season match. The prosecutor has told the court that Benbrika, who praised Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden as a "great man", told the group that Australia was a land at war and jihad was justified.

The prosecutor said police raids on the men's homes had found literature on how to make bombs and video tapes with messages from bin Laden and showing beheadings.

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