Three charged in AFP extremism blitz
Week-long AFP blitz targets Nazi symbols, hate crimes and violent extremism.
A Sydney man will be charged with using a Nazi salute at a public gathering after federal police launched a week-long blitz targeting the display and distribution of far-right paraphernalia and other illegal symbols, The Sydney Morning Herald reported this week.
Police also seized swastika-bearing swords and charged a British man with hate crimes for using social media to promote pro-Nazi ideology and violence against the Jewish community, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) revealed on Monday.
AFP assistant commissioner Stephen Nutt said police would not tolerate intimidation or threats against vulnerable communities.
“The AFP will not hesitate to take action against those who undermine Australia’s social cohesion, sovereignty and democracy,” Nutt said at a press conference in Canberra.
A 25-year-old Castle Hill man, Jayden Delacour, was issued with a court attendance notice after investigators executed a search warrant at his property last Thursday.
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, as well as allegedly importing 12 flags, it will be alleged Delacour used a Nazi salute at a public gathering in Sydney. He has been ordered to appear at Parramatta Local Court on January 29.
Social media accounts under Delacour’s name previously suggested the Holocaust “didn’t happen”, the Herald reported.
Nutt said federal police had undertaken a concerted week of action between November 27 and December 4, targeting the display and potentially unlawful commercialisation of prohibited symbols.
A 43-year-old British national living in Queensland allegedly used two X accounts to display the Nazi swastika and “espouse a pro-Nazi ideology with a specific hatred of the Jewish community, and to advocate for violence towards this community”, police said.
Officers raided a Caboolture home in November and seized several weapons, including swords emblazoned with swastika symbology, axes and knives. The man was charged with three counts of public display of prohibited Nazi symbols and one count of using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence.
A 21-year-old Brisbane man also faces up to five years in prison after flags, literature, balaclavas and electronic devices were seized from his home. The man was charged with two counts of possessing or controlling violent extremist material.