'Igniters found at terror suspect's home'

Model rocket igniters found in the Perth home of an British-born Islamic convert accused of plotting to blow up Israel’s embassy in Canberra could have been used to set off a truck bomb, an explosives expert told a court today.

Australian Federal Police forensic analyst David Royds told the trial of Jack Roche, an Australian citizen born in Hull, that two packets of igniters could have acted as a remote trigger for an explosive device.

The igniters are designed to set off solid fuel in model rockets.

Royds also said that with “worrying” amounts of available internet material describing how to make bombs, it was entirely possible the igniters could have been linked to a mobile phone to make a remote control device.

Asked if they could be used to detonate a truckload of explosives, Royds told Perth District Court: “They most certainly could be used for that.”

Prosecutors say Roche, who moved to Australia in 1978, made contact with al-Qaida in March 2000 after being introduced to the terrorist group through contacts in Southeast Asian terror group Jemaah Islamiyah.

He was smuggled into Afghanistan where he learned how to make bombs and met senior al-Qaida officials including Osama bin Laden, prosecutors have said.

Roche, 50, has pleaded not guilty to one charge of conspiring to damage the Israeli embassy by means of explosives, and as a consequence harming diplomatic staff. He faces a maximum sentence of 25 years if convicted.

The bombing plot was never carried out.

The trial continues next week.