Linda Merhi, 40, appears in Sydney court charged with five counts of making funds available to a terrorist organisation

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A former federal public servant has appeared in a Sydney court over allegations she transferred more than $30,000 to fund the terrorism of Islamic State.

Linda Merhi, 40, was arrested by the New South Wales joint counter-terrorism team at Parramatta early on Tuesday.

It is alleged she made five transfers via Western Union, which were destined for Isis, between February and October 2015.

Australian federal police Det Supt Ben McQuillan said there was no evidence to suggest Merhi was involved in planning a domestic attack.

“We are continuing to investigate both the source of the funds, the methodologies that were used to transfer those funds and the recipients of those funds offshore,” he said in Sydney.

Merhi, from the western Sydney suburb of Guildford, faced Parramatta local court on Tuesday afternoon, charged with five counts of intentionally making funds available to or collecting funds on behalf of a terrorist organisation. She showed little emotion during the brief appearance.

Her lawyer, Mona El Baba, indicated she would make a bail application next Tuesday and the magistrate, Tim Keady, adjourned the matter.

El Baba refused to comment on the allegations outside court.

According to court documents, Merhi is accused of transferring the money in sums of $1,982, $2,790.08, $9,810.24, $7,940.26 and $8,000 across the nine-month period.

When questioned about the length of time between Merhi’s alleged transfers and her arrest, the NSW assistant police commissioner Michael Willing said such complex investigations took time.

“There’s a lot of information and evidence to sift through and that’s certainly been the case on this occasion,” he said.

Merhi is an Australian citizen, holds no other citizenship and was not known to police. Willing said there was no evidence to suggest her alleged crimes were linked to her employment in a federal government department.

“I want to reassure the community that there is no current or impending threat to the community as part of today’s arrest,” he said.

In 2016 in Guildford a 16-year old Sydney schoolgirl was arrested under the same police operation, along with a 20-year-old man accused of raising funds for Islamic State. McQuillan confirmed Merhi’s arrest was linked to those matters but declined to elaborate.

Operation Peqin has also investigated the October 2015 shooting of the 58-year-old police employee Curtis Cheng outside Parramatta police headquarters.

McQuillan declined to detail any links between Tuesday’s arrest and previous matters, citing the sensitive nature of the investigation, but said Operation Peqin had been set up to investigate a broad group of people.

