A nuclear reactor was a possible target for terrorism suspects arrested in Australia last week, according to a document released by police.
It emerged today that three men arrested in Sydney last week on suspicion of involvement in a terror plot were stopped and questioned near Australia's only nuclear reactor in December last year.
An outline of allegations made public by the police today outlined what it claimed were plans by the men to stockpile chemicals for making explosives and that they "obtained extremist advice and guidance" from a cleric arrested along with them.
The three men stopped near the nuclear reactor were among 18 terror suspects arrested in Sydney and Melbourne last week and accused of plotting to carry out a "catastrophic" attack in Australia.
The document, provided during a court hearing last week and released publicly on today, alleges that three of the eight Sydney suspects were stopped in their car near the nuclear facility in southern Sydney in December 2004.
The men also had an off-road motorbike and claimed they were there to ride, the document said, noting that all three gave different versions of the day's events to police.
The three - Mazen Touma, Mohammed Elomar and Abdul Rakib Hasan - along with five other Sydney men, have been charged with conspiring to manufacture explosives in preparation for a terrorist act.
Their lawyer has said prosecutors have produced no evidence of an imminent terror attack in the country.
The police fact sheet, which outlines the prosecution's case against the eight Sydney suspects, said members of the group sought materials to produce explosives, ordering dozens of gallons of chemicals.
During a search of Mr Elomar's home on June 27th, police said they found a computer memory stick that contained instructions in Arabic for making TATP, or triacetone triperoxide, a highly unstable explosive made from commercially available chemicals.
Australian police have said TATP is similar to the bombs used by suicide bombers the July 7th attacks on London's public transport system, but British authorities have refused to confirm those reports.
The statement also said some of the men attended a terrorist training camp at a rural property in a remote area of New South Wales state, and "obtained extremist advice and guidance" from the cleric Abu Bakr, who made headlines last year by calling Osama bin Laden a "great man."
Abu Bakr, whose real name is Abdul Nacer Benbrika, was among the men arrested during last week's raids.
AP