A nationalist activist has had his Sydney home raided by armed police who seized his phone months after he ordered war memorabilia online that included two legal swastika flags.
A dozen Australian Border Force (ABF), Australian Federal Police (AFP) and digital forensics officers turned up at the man’s home at about 7.30am on Thursday morning, and told him they had a search warrant as a result of the August purchase to investigate alleged “trading in prohibited Nazi symbols”.
Noticer News understands the flags were ordered from overseas for private photography purposes but were seized on arrival in Australia by customs in August, and the warrant allowed police to search the National Socialist Network member’s home, car and electronic devices.
No other items were found during the search, but police seized the man’s phone as “evidence” despite examining it during the raid. No charges have been laid.
White Australia’s NSW leader Jack Eltis criticised the raid on his Telegram channel, calling the reason for the search warrant “flimsy”, and saying it appeared to be part of an ongoing crackdown on his organisation.
“The timing of all this is telling. Only after the formation of the new National Security Investigations Taskforce, and after extreme pressure from the Jewish lobby to act against our organisation, they then pull a stunt like this, using some flags from August as pretext to get a warrant and harass, annoy and attempt to intimidate our member,” he wrote.
“The police forces in Australia have very quickly lost all credibility. They raid, and talk openly about how they are going to harass our organisation because they don’t want us to launch our political party, whilst simultaneously violent crime runs rampant all over the country.
“Our membership and organisation remains entirely unperturbed by these rodents and remain steadfast on our mission for White Australia.”
Publicly displaying and trading in items depicting or containing prohibited Nazi symbols – the swastika and the double‑sig rune – was banned at the beginning of last year, but it is legal to own, purchase or privately display such items.
The raid comes after NSW Premier Chris Minns and the AFP vowed to target the group in the wake of a protest against the influence of the Jewish lobby on November 8, and new laws banning “Nazi ideology” were introduced to state parliament.
The ABF also carried out a 4am raid on South African NSN member Matthew Gruter after his visa was cancelled over the protest, separating him from his newborn baby and taking him to Villawood Immigration Detention Centre in handcuffs where he is awaiting deportation.
An AFP National Security Investigations team then arrested and charged White Australia activist Joel Davis over an alleged Telegram post about a federal MP on the day his partner was due to give birth. He is now behind bars after refused bail by a magistrate.
The protest response came after the AFP Acting Deputy Commissioner told parliament police were “concerned” about White Australia’s efforts to register as a political party, and admitted the new NSI teams were looking to “disrupt” the organisation even though their behaviour was non-violent and non-criminal.
And in August armed AFP officers raided the Victorian home of White Australia’s Riverina Region chapter leader Michael Nelson for allegedly posting a meme containing a swastika on his Telegram channel.
In February two military veterans, one a memorabilia collector, were arrested and charged after photographing a Nazi flag at a Sydney pub, and held in remand prison for 14 days before facing court.
Both pleaded guilty to “displaying a Nazi symbol”, but were spared convictions after a magistrate heard they were not Nazis and did not hold anti-Semitic views.
Header image: The NSN protest against the Jewish lobby (Supplied).
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