ASIO

After a meeting with Australian Federal Police and domestic spy agency Asio, the state police force said additional "intelligence" had led them to conclude the incident should be treated as a probable terror attack.

He said investigations of children had peaked at 50% of ASIO’s “priority counterterrorism case load” a few years ago and the number had since reduced.

Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Christopher Jessup, the regulator of Australia’s six spy agencies, announced in March that he was investigating Duggan’s allegation that the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, known as ASIO, was part of a U.S. ploy to extradite him.

ASIO’s secretary-general of security Mike Burgess described the network as a “hive” of spies because it was bigger and more dangerous than a “nest” of spies previously disrupted.

“Proxies and agents were recruited as part of a wider network. Among other malicious activities, they wanted to steal sensitive information,” Burgess said in ASIO’s annual report on threats posed to Australia.