Second group of ISIS-linked Australian women and children land in Sydney, Melbourne

Police have reiterated investigations into a group of returned ISIS-linked Australians from Syria are “ongoing”, after the cohort touched down in capital airports and avoided waiting media packs at the gates.

In a statement, NSW Police said members of the Victoria and NSW Joint Counter Terrorism Teams (JCTT) were deployed to Melbourne and Sydney Airports respectively for the arrival of the groups – four women and their children in Sydney, and two women and their children in Melbourne.

“The cohort was subject to a range of operational responses, including the searching of belongings and the downloading of their devices for investigative purposes

,” police said in the statement.

“No one arriving within this cohort has been charged.

“However, investigations into the activities of Australians who travelled to Syria – including those who have since returned – are ongoing.

“Police and the JCTTs will continue to engage with relevant stakeholders to ensure community safety is upheld. The safety of our communities remains a priority for all agencies.”

The groups avoided waiting media packs at the terminals on Tuesday evening, with the Melbourne cohort being escorted through a back door and the Sydney group leaving via a loading dock.

NewsWire understands the group arriving in Sydney were offered government health assistance through the NSW Department of Communities and Justice.

It is also understood they were given the option to be transported out of the airport or to leave via the public arrivals gate.

In Melbourne, three men acting as “security” positioned themselves next to the arrivals barrier awaiting the women and children to disembark.

The group left the Al-Roj refugee camp on Thursday and headed to Damascus, where they boarded flights bound for Australia.

Speaking on the ABC’s 730 Report, Australian doctor Jamal Rifi said he understood no arrests had been made when the group arrived in Australia, but that did not mean they would not be charged later.

“Who knows what’s going to happen? Those women are not known to me,” he said.

“What they have done is not known to anyone in Australia except to our security agency and AFP who have monitored them.”

Dr Rifi said through his interactions with some of the so-called ISIS brides over several years he knew them as caring mothers.

He said some women were “tricked” and some were “victims of the death cult”.

Dr Rifi also said he understood the fear some Australians had about who these people are, especially after the horror of the Bondi terror attack.

But he said he believed it was safer for the children to return to Australia now as children rather than to be under the influence of a “radical element” in the Middle East and then come back to Australia as adults.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke earlier confirmed the government would continue to “not provide any assistance to this group”.

“These are people who have made the horrific choice to join a dangerous terrorist organisation and to place their children in an unspeakable situation,” Mr Burke said.

“As we have said many times – any members of this cohort who have committed crimes can expect to face the full force of the law.”
He said law enforcement and intelligence agencies had been preparing for Australians returning from Syria for more than a decade, and had “longstanding plans in place to manage and monitor them”.

”The priority of the government, as always, is the safety of the Australian community,” he said.

The majority of those travelling from Syria are understood to be on a connecting Qatar Airways flight from Doha set to land in Sydney about 5.30pm, The Daily Telegraph reports.

The group departed al-Roj internment camp on Friday by bus and later reached Damascus, before acquiring plane tickets to begin their journey home.

Save the Children, a prominent advocate for the repatriation of the group, welcomed news of their arrival.

“These innocent children have endured years in dangerous and unstable conditions, and we have held serious concerns for their safety and wellbeing,” Save the Children Australia chief executive Mat Tinkler said.

“The political debate surrounding their future in Australia has been deeply disappointing.

“As Australian citizens, it was always a matter of ‘when’ these women and children came home, not ‘if’.

“While much attention has focused on the circumstances of the mothers, two thirds of the returning group are children.”

He said Australia must prioritise the children’s “safety, wellbeing and right to live in this country as Australian citizens”.

But the Coalition has criticised the group’s return, with Nationals leader Matt Canavan claiming the government had “exposed Australians to unnecessary risks”.

“We know from the previous arrivals that some of these individuals have been charged with terror-related offences, so that is a risk,” he told Sky News.

“It’s still completely unclear to me why the government hasn’t used the powers it has to exclude people temporarily at least.”

One Australian woman who was part of the cohort living in al-Roj has been issued with a temporary exclusion order (TEO) by Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke on the advice of ASIO.

It bans her from returning to the country for up to two years on the grounds of national security.

NewsWire understands this woman remains in Syria. Her child, to whom the TEO doesn’t apply, remains with her.

Earlier this month, four women and nine children previously living in al-Roj returned to Australia.

Three of those women were arrested and charged by the Australian Federal Police upon arrival at Melbourne and Sydney airports.

Two of the women were charged with crimes against humanity offences, while another was charged with terrorism offences.

AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett said ahead of the first group’s arrival that children in the cohort would be asked to participate in “community integration programs, therapeutic support, and countering violent extremism” programs.

The Albanese government has insisted it has no sympathy for the group and has repeatedly refused to repatriate them from Syria.

But it could not stop the group of Australian citizens from being provided passports, which they received earlier this year through intermediary Jamal Rifi, a prominent Sydney doctor.