Australian charged over fake anti-gov't video
August 2, 2021
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) have charged a Perth man for impersonating a police officer. Its part of a probe into a video that was alleged to show Australia's Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw talking about how the government could be "dissolved."
But the man in the video is not really Kershaw, according to AFP's assistant commissioner for counterterrorism, Scott Lee.
"The general public needs to know that a video purporting to be of the AFP Commissioner calling for people to join in a plan to create a new government is complete and utter nonsense — it is not from the Commissioner, it is not from the AFP and has absolutely no credibility," he said.
It wasn't immediately clear if the man police arrested was the same man appearing in the video, although investigators say the man appearing in the video has been identified.
Police are investigating countrywide network
The 49-year-old suspect is believed to be part of a network of individuals who police say met regularly to share their interests in taking over the government.
However, police have questioned whether the group was capable of executing such an ambitious scheme.
"We have found no evidence this group has the ability — or has actually attempted — to carry out specific violent acts in support of statements made by members of this group," Lee said, adding that police would not hesitate to act if more criminal offenses were identified.
Police believe the group of individuals they have identified are responsible for the widely circulated video, falsely claiming to be a recording of the country's police commissioner, discussing anti-government sentiment while encouraging others to join.
The suspect also allegedly claimed to be a police officer in an unsuccessful attempt to obtain stamps and ID badges with the AFP logo from a commercial business.
Fake police badges seized
Officers investigating the group recovered three boxes containing replica police badges. The boxes had been dumped in a nearby creek near a house in Cairns, a coastal city in northeast Australia.
Searches have been conducted in Brisbane, Cairns and Townsville. Additional warrants were executed in Peterborough in southern Australia and Perth.
The suspect who has yet to be identified faces up to two years imprisonment if he is fund guilty.