Australian anti-terror force detains 15 over planned public beheadings

Australian counter-terrorism forces detained 15 people today in a series of raids after receiving intelligence that the Islamic State movement had planned public beheadings in two Australian cities to demonstrate its reach, Fox News reported.

About 800 federal and state police officers raided over a dozen properties across 12 Sydney suburbs as part of the operation -- the largest in Australian history, Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Andrew Colvin told the Associated Press. The eastern cities of Brisbane and Logan were also witness to police raids.

According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the plan involved randomly picking up individuals from the streets in Sydney and Brisbane, beheading them on camera, and releasing the recordings through the Islamic State's propaganda arm in the Middle East.

Police allege the attacks were ordered by Mohammad Ali Baryalei, a 33-year-old former Sydney night club bouncer who is believed to be the highest-ranking Australian in the Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL.

A 22-year-old Sydney man, Omarjan Azari, was produced before the court today, is accused of conspiring with Baryalei and others to act in preparation for or plan a terrorist act or acts.

According to prosecutor Michael Allnutt, he was involved in a "plan to commit extremely serious offences" that was "clearly designed to shock and horrify" the public. It was not immediately clear what sentence Azari would face if convicted.

One of the Sydney men accused of planning to seize a member of the public to behead live on camera was motivated by ''an unusual level of fanaticism'', a Sydney court was told.

According to court documents, Azari faced charges of conspiring with Mohammed Baryalei.

Commonwealth prosecutor Michael Allnutt said the accused had hatched plans designed to ''shock'' and ''horrify'' the community, involving the ''random selection of persons to rather gruesomely execute''.

''I don't think I've seen much worse,'' Allnutt told the court.

Opposing the bail, Allnut said, ''There is access to cash, there is a background of people of similar views being able to leave the country and ... there is perhaps an unusual level of fanaticism in this particular matter, which will make a person less likely to take notice of a court's order. ''