Australian Federal Police (AFP) have charged three men in separate cases involving the alleged display or promotion of banned Nazi symbols.
A 43-year-old UK citizen living in Queensland is accused of using two X accounts to post the illegal material between October and November, even after one profile was blocked.
In an official statement, AFP claimed that the accused is facing three counts of publicly displaying Nazi symbols and one count of using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence, carrying maximum penalties of five and three years in jail.
National Enforcement Blitz
The charges formed part of a wider AFP operation targeting the importation and sale of prohibited extremist material in New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, and Victoria.
Officers also arrested a 21-year-old Queensland man on two counts of possessing or controlling violent extremist material. He appeared before Brisbane Magistrates Court on Dec. 5, with the case adjourned to Jan. 16.
In Sydney, a 25-year-old man was issued a court attendance notice over an alleged Nazi salute at a public gathering.
“This week of disruption was as much about ensuring people were not inadvertently committing criminal offences as it was about bolstering our efforts to safeguard social cohesion,” AFP Assistant Commissioner Stephen Nutt said.
In September, the AFP’s national security investigations team was established to target individuals and networks causing harm to social cohesion, including those targeting Jewish communities.
