SYDNEY, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- Authorities in the northeastern Australian state of Queensland have charged a teenager with terrorism offenses over an alleged plot to attack a school, local media reported on Tuesday.
Officers from the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Queensland Joint Counter-Terrorism Team arrested the 16-year-old in August after he allegedly tried to buy firearms online, according to News Corp Australia newspapers.
He has been charged with one count of acts done in preparation for, or planning, terrorist attacks under federal criminal law.
If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
Authorities reportedly believe he was planning to use the firearms in an attack on a school in the northern suburbs of Brisbane, the state capital and Australia's third-largest city.
The AFP said that an investigation was underway but that there was no ongoing threat to the Australian publ.ic
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in August raised Australia's official terror threat level from "possible" to "probable" on the advice of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO).
Director-General of ASIO Mike Burgess said at the time that more Australians are being radicalized and being radicalized more quickly and issued a warning that a growing number of Australians are willing to use violence to advance their cause. ■
