Source : Perth Now news
Two men have been charged by federal police over separate threats made to multiple federal politicians online.
A 43-year-old man was arrested at a property in the Moreton Bay area, north of Brisbane, on Thursday after a search warrant was executed by Australian Federal Police’s National Security Investigations team.
Detectives were investigating repeated online threats made towards federal parliamentarians and members of the public, according to AFP.
They seized a mobile phone from the home for forensic examination.
The man was charged with one count of using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence, which carries a maximum five year prison sentence if found guilty.
He was granted conditional bail to appear in Caboolture Magistrate’s Court on January 5.
The National Security Investigations team was launched in October last year in response to an increasing trend of threats to target individuals causing high levels of harm to Australia’s social cohesion, including the targeting of federal parliamentarians.
On Wednesday, the Investigations team arrested a 67-year-old man in Melbourne after he allegedly sent harassing emails to MPs.
Investigators received reports of allegedly threatening emails from various federal MPs, leading to a raid on a home in the city’s east.
The man was charged with three counts of using a carriage service to menace, harass or offend.
He was granted conditional bail to appear before Ringwood Magistrates’ Court on February 16.
AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett last month said police were charging one person every week for threatening parliamentarians.
“Safety and security of parliamentarians and of their staff is one of the highest priorities for the AFP, it’s one of the biggest parts of the business,” she said.
“That is a big part of our job is to disrupt and intervene before we get to a point where someone has committed an offence or some damage has been done.”
