A CONVICTED terrorist used his brother’s passport to fool Customs officers and board a flight for Syria, exposing grave security gaps at Sydney international airport.

Despite not having a passport in his name, being on airport watchlists around the country and being under 24-hour surveillance as part of a counter-terror investigation, Khaled Sharrouf walked onto a Kuala Lumpur flight under the nose of Customs on December 6 and has since disappeared.

The 31-year-old father-of-four, one of the most recognisable names in law enforcement, is one of the “terror nine” arrested in the landmark Operation Pendennis investigation in 2005 which thwarted a planned attack on an unspecified target in Sydney.

"Sharrouf’s disappearance, a signifcant embarrassment to border security agencies, was also hushed up by authorities with this newspaper blocked from accessing basic public documents about the case against him."

Timeline of events

Who are the terror nine?

Authorities strongly suspect he is now in Syria, where it is feared up to 120 other Australians are fighting in the country’s civil war alongside proscribed terror organisations.

A major investigation has been launched by counter-terror authorities into how he escaped the country and why it took 12 days before authorities even realised the father-of-four had disappeared.

It is understood Sharrouf had been at the centre of a major counter-terror investigation by federal police and other agencies which were supposed to be watching his every move.

On November 9 he was observed in remote bushland near Lithgow with several other men holding an unauthorised firearm.

Protocol states that a person with a criminal history such as Sharrouf’s would be immediately charged and taken into custody, however, for operational reasons, he was not charged over the firearm at the time and allowed to remain free.

media_camera Khaled Sharrouf in late 1990s copy photo.

Sharrouf’s disappearance, a significant embarrassment to border security agencies, was also hushed up by authorities with this newspaper blocked from accessing basic public documents about the case against him.

NSW Police are understood to be furious about the Customs blunder which allowed him to escape, and the lack of security at the airport.

Sharrouf is one of only a few people in Australia charged with plotting a terrorist act and investigators are now scrambling to locate his exact whereabouts.

Court records confirm that on December 18 documents were lodged at Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court charging Sharrouf with falsely using Australian travel documents belonging to another person.

He left the country just three days after Australian Federal Police swooped on two Sydney men for allegedly sending young Australian Muslims to fight in war-ravaged Syria.

Sharrouf’s lawyer, Simon Joyner, said he was unable to answer questions about his client.

“At this stage I will not comment on these issues,” Mr Joyner said.

Sharrouf pleaded guilty in 2009 to possessing six clocks and one hundred and forty batteries, which he admitted were connected with the preparation of a terrorist act.

A judge sentenced him to three years and 11 months jail before he was released in 2009 to spend a further year and three months on parole.

"A major investigation has been launched by counter-terror authorities into how he escaped the country and why it took 12 days before authorities even realised the father-of-four had disappeared."

He attempted to have his passport returned on his release was unsuccessful.

About three weeks before he left Australia, Sharrouf was charged with possessing an unauthorised firearm and ordered to appear in Lithgow Local Court.

The charge relates to an incident on November 9 when police in the village of Glen Davis, near Lithgow, saw Sharrouf and others in remote bushland.

Police allegedly spotted a number of men with rifles and, upon approaching them, saw Sharrouf holding a weapon, which was licensed to another man present at the scene.

He did not appear in court to answer the charge on January 30 and a magistrate has since issued a warrant for his arrest.

During Operation Pendennis investigators followed their targets to two remote bush locations where “training camps” had been set up to test fire weapons and bomb makeshift targets.

Last week the NSW Attorney General’s Department hindered access to basic public documents outlining the firearm charge and false passport charges against Sharrouf, with no official explanation provided.

The Sunday Telegraph has since confirmed Australian Federal Police were given the final say over whether the public-record information should be released.

Instead of refusing access, the department undertook a delaying tactic which, after three days of “considering” whether to release the documents, had still made no decision by Friday close of business, meaning the files could not be released before this newspaper’s deadline.

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