Police officers patrol security lines at Sydney Airport yesterday following the weekend raids. A terrorist plot to bring down a plane was "fairly well along" when Australian authorities moved in, US officials say, amid claims the four arrested over the plan had links to Islamic State. Now Reuters has cited two US officials familiar with the arrests as saying the Australian investigation wasn't a sting operation but the result of the detection of a developing plot. One said it was "fairly well along" when Australian authorities disrupted it. The US officials declined to identify the service and UK officials refused to confirm or deny playing a role in detecting the plot.

Source: Otago Daily Times July 31, 2017 21:45 UTC