Willie Brigitte deported from Sydney
Willie Virgile Brigitte, a French convert to Islam from Guadeloupe, arrived in Australia on 16 May 2003 as an ordinary tourist. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that his name was not on the immigration department's alert list. The SMH also reported that French intelligence sent ASIO a cable on 22 September 2003 and a more urgent one on 3 October, which was not read until 7 October. He was arrested, questioned without success by ASIO, and deported to France in October 2003 for visa violations. ASIO director-general Dennis Richardson told Senate estimates: "Brigitte was almost certainly involved in activities with the intention of doing harm in Australia".
Link to Faheem Lodhi: when Brigitte was sentenced in Paris (reported by ABC News on 16 Mar 2007, Sydney time), ABC News reported that the prosecution said he came to Australia in May 2003 on the orders of Lashkar-e-Toiba. ABC News also reported: "He was to join a terror cell run by Faheem Khalid Lodhi, a Pakistani-born radical who was jailed for 20 years in 2006 for the alleged attack plot." The SMH reported in 2004 that Brigitte's "alleged accomplices, including Faheem Lodhi" would face Australian courts. Lashkar-e-Tayyiba was listed as a terrorist organisation in Australia on 5 November 2003.
A Paris court sentenced Brigitte to nine years in jail for "criminal conspiracy in relation with a terrorist enterprise". The BBC reported that prosecutors named the Lucas Heights nuclear research reactor in Sydney among the potential targets, along with the Pine Gap facility and military bases. Brigitte denied planning any attack in Australia. In Australia, Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said ASIO had used its questioning and detention powers on Brigitte's Australian associates.
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