A 43-year-old United Kingdom man living in Queensland has been charged with allegedly displaying Nazi symbols and sharing hateful, illegal content online.<\/p>\n
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) said they first began investigating the man in October.<\/p>\n
Police allege he used two different handles on X (formerly known as Twitter) to display Nazi symbols and promote pro-Nazi ideology, while advocating for violence towards the Jewish community.<\/p>\n
Those offences allegedly occurred between October 10 and November 5 this year, police said.<\/p>\n
Police allege after X blocked the main account the man had been using, he then created a second handle with a similar name to continue posting offensive and harmful content.<\/p>\n
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A 43-year-old man has been charged with three counts of public display of prohibited Nazi symbols and one count of using a carriage service to menace.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 (Supplied: Australian Federal Police)<\/p>\n
Arrest and seizure<\/p>\n
In November, police executed a search warrant at the man’s Caboolture home, north of Brisbane, where they seized a number of items including phones, weapons and swords allegedly bearing swastika symbols.<\/p>\n
He has been charged with three counts of public display of prohibited Nazi symbols and one count of using a carriage service to menace.<\/p>\n
Those charges carry maximum penalties of five and three years’ imprisonment respectively.<\/p>\n
Police said the man faced Caboolture Magistrates Court last Wednesday, where the matter was adjourned to January next year.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A 43-year-old United Kingdom citizen living in Queensland has been charged with allegedly displaying prohibited Nazi symbols. (Supplied: Australian Federal Police)<\/p>\n
National blitz<\/p>\n
Separately, the AFP’s National Security Investigations team has been targeting individuals and groups they say are “damaging Australia’s social cohesion” as part of a week-long blitz.<\/p>\n
As part of that operation, police arrested and charged a 21-year-old Queensland man who they allege was in possession of violent extremist material.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Police executed a search warrant at his Manly home in Brisbane last Thursday following the alleged importation of flags and extremist literature.<\/p>\n
The 21-year-old was charged with two counts of possessing violent extremist material, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.<\/p>\n
Police said he appeared before Brisbane Magistrates Court on Friday 5 December, with the matter adjourned until January 16 next year.<\/p>\n
In a separate incident, the AFP said a 25-year-old man from Sydney’s north-west was issued a court attendance notice after allegedly using the Nazi salute in a recent public gathering.<\/p>\n
He is also expected to face court next year.<\/p>\n
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AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett established the NSI teams. (AAP: Mick Tsikas)<\/p>\n
‘Powerful opportunity to educate’<\/p>\n
The AFP said the week-long operation drew on data and intelligence from the Australian Border Force about “harmful propaganda”.<\/p>\n