Email
An arrest warrant has been issued for a former Sydney nightclub bouncer identified as the most senior Australian member of the Islamic State (Isis) terrorist group.
Mohammad Ali Baryalei, 33, who is also a part-time actor, has helped send scores of Australian fighters to the wars in Syria and Iraq, according to an ABC investigation.
Authorities say Baryalei, who was born in Afghanistan and is not currently in the country, has a trusted position in Isis operational command and has been involved in the recruitment of at least 30 Australians for the conflicts.
The Australian federal police (AFP) confirmed on Tuesday that a warrant had been issued and a spokesman said in a statement it was for “alleged terrorism-related activities”.
“Should Baryalei return to Australia this warrant authorises law enforcement to arrest him immediately.”
The ABC reported on Monday that Baryalei had recruited “a who’s who” of Australian Isis fighters, including Khaled Sharrouf and Mohamed Elomar, and boys as young as 17.
Baryalei had a small role in the Nine Network’s Underbelly series, appearing as a paramedic in one episode.
Among the Australians who Baryalei has reportedly recruited are former Gold Coast schoolgirl Amira Karroum and her husband, dual Australian-US citizen Tyler Casey, who both died in Aleppo in Syria in January.
Karroum, 22, was gunned down.
Her father, Mohammed Karroum, said her life changed in 2011 when she moved to Sydney to live with her older sister.
“They start to put the hijab [on] and they don’t want to take it off and everything they do, they do by the Muslim law,” Mohammed Karroum told the ABC.
One of Karroum’s cousins, Fadl Sayadi, was jailed for five years for the biggest terrorism plot in Australia’s history.
Another cousin, Bilal Sayadi, who has a history of crime dating to his teens, introduced Karroum to Casey.
Mohammed Karroum said the family did not approve of his daughter’s marriage.
;