The real bad guys have military explosives training, a covert support network with excellent research capability, an effective security and communication system and plenty of money. You will not catch them with some ASIC card check or see them mouthing off about infidels in some Lakemba mosque. If they mount an operation, they will use cleanskins with all the documentation and security cards. One can only hope ASIO is disrupting their operations in secret.
From the ABC
Police will allege the IED had been built under instructions from a senior Islamic State (IS) controller in Syria and was to be planted in the luggage of a brother of one of the accused on the Etihad flight out of Sydney on July 15. Police said the brother was not aware of the plan.
Police described the IED as a "high-end military-grade explosive". However, that attempt was aborted, and a second plan was then hatched to create a "chemical dispersion device"...Police said the plot to detonate an IED on the Etihad flight was directed by a senior IS controller, who organised for components to be sent to Australia via international air cargo from Turkey.
Deputy Commissioner Phelan said the plot began in April when one of the accused was put in contact with the controller via his brother, who is a senior member of the terrorist group in Syria.
So Sunny with all your knowledge of terrorist modus operandi, were these people "real" terrorists or just
the idiots the AFP catches who attend dodgy mosques and research and discuss their plans over phones and the internet
.