AFP counter-terrorism operation that targeted 13-year-old with autism cost more than $500,000
FoI documents reveal the cost of Operation Bourglinster, which was criticised for encouraging a child’s fixation on the Islamic State
An Australian federal police counter-terrorism operation targeting a 13-year-old boy with autism cost more than $500,000, Guardian Australia can reveal.
Documents provided under freedom of information laws show the total cost of Operation Bourglinster, the AFP investigation into a boy known as Thomas Carrick, was $507,087. No further breakdown of the cost was provided
The Victorian children’s court found that police encouraged Thomas in his fixation on Islamic State during an undercover operation after his parents sought help from the authorities.
Thomas was later charged with terror offences after a magistrate found an undercover officer “fed his fixation” and “doomed” the rehabilitation efforts of the boy and his parents.
On 17 April 2021, his parents went to a police station and asked for help because Thomas was watching Islamic State-related videos on his computer and had asked his mother to buy bomb-making ingredients such as sulphur and acetone
An Australian federal police counter-terrorism operation targeting a 13-year-old boy with autism cost more than $500,000, Guardian Australia can reveal.
Documents provided under freedom of information laws show the total cost of Operation Bourglinster, the AFP investigation into a boy known as Thomas Carrick, was $507,087. No further breakdown of the cost was provided
The Victorian children’s court found that police encouraged Thomas in his fixation on Islamic State during an undercover operation after his parents sought help from the authorities.
Thomas was later charged with terror offences after a magistrate found an undercover officer “fed his fixation” and “doomed” the rehabilitation efforts of the boy and his parents.
On 17 April 2021, his parents went to a police station and asked for help because Thomas was watching Islamic State-related videos on his computer and had asked his mother to buy bomb-making ingredients such as sulphur and acetone