Three men 'planning terrorist act' arrested after police raid houses in Melbourne

Three men have been arrested for allegedly plotting a “terrorist act” aimed at killing “as many people as possible” at a crowded Melbourne location, police have said.

Australian federal police and Victoria police said the men had been arrested on Tuesday morning after allegedly being “involved in undertaking preparations for planning a terrorist act”.

The joint counter terrorism team, which includes Australian Security Intelligence Organisation officers, executed four warrants in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.

A 30-year-old from Dallas, a 26-year-old from Campbellfield, and 21-year-old from Greenvale remain in custody. The men were being interviewed on Tuesday morning and will front court later in the day.

The AFP assistant commissioner, Ian McCartney, said if police had not acted “early in preventing this attack, we’ll allege the consequences would have been chilling”.

The Victoria police chief commissioner, Graham Ashton, alleged that the group had not identified a final location but said they had been eyeing off a “crowded place”.

“They were trying to have a place where they could kill as many people as possible,” Ashton said.

He alleged that police had seen the group become “much more energised over the past week” and determined that they had enough evidence to intervene.

Investigators had been monitoring the terrorist suspects since March, he said, and they had been in the process of acquiring of a .22 semi-automatic rifle.

Two of the three men were related, police said. They are Australians of Turkish descent and had cancelled their passports in January, March and October.

They will be charged with preparing a terrorist act, which potentially carries a life sentence.

McCartney said police would allege the men were radicalised “within this cell as a group”. “We’re not suggesting this has been directed by Isis,” he said.

He said the three men had been communicating using encrypted apps.

Speaking hours before the funeral of the Melbourne cafe owner Sisto Malaspina, who was killed in a terrorist attack this month, authorities indicated there was no further threat to the public.

“We don’t believe there is any extended threat outside of the group we have custody,” said Ross Guenther, a Victoria police assistant commissioner.

The state premier, Daniel Andrews, said he was “grateful” to the 200 police officers involved in Tuesday’s operation. “The seriousness of this potential incident should not be underestimated,” he said.