SYDNEY, Dec. 24 (Xinhua) -- Western Australia (WA) Police Force announced on Wednesday that a 39-year-old man had been charged overnight following an investigation into alleged online antisemitic comments made via a social media platform.
Police said in a statement that officers arrested the man on Tuesday at his home and executed a search warrant. The man was a licensed firearms holder and possessed several registered firearms as well as a quantity of ammunition, all of which were seized.
The man's eligibility to hold a firearms licence will be subject to review, police added. Police have charged the man with three offences, including conduct intended to racially harass, carrying or possessing a prohibited weapon, and failing to store a firearm or related thing in compliant storage.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported that, during a court hearing, prosecutors said images related to open-source information about making explosives were located on the man's mobile phone, and police also found handwritten notebooks titled "ideology, views, ideas and insights" at the man's home, which included strongly antisemitic comments and references to Hitler and the Holocaust.
According to the ABC report, the arrest was carried out under Operation Dalewood, a WA Police taskforce established following a deadly attack at Sydney's Bondi Beach earlier this month. ■
