By Aaron Miller-
An Australian court on Wednesday found a man guilty of plotting to blow up an Etihad Airways flight out of Sydney at the behest of the Islamic State militant group by hiding a bomb in the luggage of his brother.
A spokesman for New South Wales Supreme Court said in a statement:
“The jury this afternoon returned a guilty verdict for Khaled and is still deliberating in respect of Mahmoud,” a spokeswoman for the New South Wales Supreme Court said
Police accused the man, Khaled Khayat, and his brother, Mahmoud Khayat, of planning two terrorist attacks that also included a chemical gas attack on the flight to Abu Dhabi in July 2017, police said. The third brother was apparently unaware that he was carrying a bomb, disguised as a meat mincer, in his luggage, as he tried to check in at the airport, police said.
The device was taken out of his luggage when it was deemed too heavy and the bomb never made it past airport security.
“The jury this afternoon returned a guilty verdict for Khaled and is still deliberating in respect of Mahmoud,” a spokeswoman for the New South Wales Supreme Court said.
Police had alleged that high-grade military explosives used to make the bomb were sent by air cargo from Turkey as part of a plot “inspired and directed” by the Islamic State.