Australia’s domestic intelligence agency, ASIO, was allegedly warned about a potential attack on a Sydney bishop nearly two years before it occurred, according to explosive claims made by a former undercover agent.
The intel is part of a series of missed warning signs by ASIO, NSW Police, and the AFP uncovered in a months-long Four Corners investigation into the stabbing of Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel at Wakeley in south-west Sydney last year.
The program also revealed counterterrorism authorities failed to act when NSW Police arrested the teenage attacker five months earlier alongside a friend on a deradicalisation program whose father was a jailed jihadist.
Authorities reportedly overlooked further concerns about the attacker’s links to known extremist Wassim Fayad, a violent criminal identified by police in 2021 as a significant recruitment risk for terrorism. All three — the Wakeley attacker, his friend, and Fayad — were part of a WhatsApp group called BROTHERHOOD, where discussions allegedly included talk of an attack on Bishop Emmanuel.
In an exclusive interview with Four Corners, a former ASIO agent using the alias “Marcus” claimed he had warned the agency in 2022 about threats circulating in the BROTHERHOOD group.
“I provided them with clear information about people speaking violently against the bishop,” Marcus said. “It could have been prevented.”
While Four Corners could not confirm precisely when the Wakeley attacker joined the group or whether he personally made threats, police later identified BROTHERHOOD as part of a suspected Islamic State-inspired network planning further attacks.
The investigation also linked teenage followers of controversial Sydney preacher Wisam Haddad — a central figure in Australia’s pro-IS movement — to the network.
After the stabbing in April last year, NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb said the juvenile suspect was not known to authorities as a terrorism risk. But these new revelations raise questions about how the boy escaped notice.
NSW Police, the AFP, and ASIO declined to comment on whether there were shortcomings in intelligence sharing or missed opportunities to prevent the attack. ASIO insisted it would never ignore credible attack intelligence.
Marcus’s Undercover Role
Marcus, a former imam from the Middle East, claims he infiltrated extremist circles in Sydney during a six-year ASIO operation, posing as a radical preacher and gaining access to the BROTHERHOOD chat. He says his work led to the disruption of attacks, arrests of Islamic State members, and valuable intelligence for overseas agencies.
Now living in hiding overseas, Marcus told Four Corners he repeatedly provided ASIO with evidence of calls for violence against Bishop Emmanuel in 2022 and 2023 — including extremist propaganda advocating knife attacks and comparisons to the Charlie Hebdo massacre in France.
“There were calls for attacks to silence him,” Marcus said. “‘This is how the mujahideen deal with those who insult our Prophet.’”
A senior counterterrorism source independently confirmed Australian authorities were aware of threats against the bishop within the group from mid-2022.
At its height, the BROTHERHOOD group had hundreds of members, including extremists known to ASIO.
Marcus claims ASIO’s interest in the warnings diminished after Australia’s terrorism threat level was downgraded from probable to possible in late 2022, only for it to be raised again last year following a spate of plots and attacks.
ASIO declined to verify whether it was aware of the threats but denied ignoring any intelligence. It described many of the claims made to Four Corners as containing “multiple errors of fact, fabrications and misrepresentations” but did not specify further.
The agency said it could not comment on operational matters, specific individuals, or sensitive capabilities.
