By NIC WHITE FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA From This Is Money

The men accused of trying to blow up an Etihad flight out of Sydney planned to smuggle a bomb on board the jet inside a large Barbie doll, Lebanese officials claim.

Lebanon’s interior minister Nouhad Machnouk told Saudi Arabian television that his country’s security officials uncovered the alleged plot, Sky News reported.

The bomb was previously alleged to have been concealed inside a meat grinder, but was never checked onto Etihad Airways flight EY451 from Sydney to Abu Dhabi because it was too heavy.

Two men were charged following terror raids in Sydney.

Plotters including three Lebanese-Australian brothers allegedly planned to sneak the bomb on to the plane in the luggage of an unwitting fourth brother.

Khaled Khayat, 49, and Mahmoud Khayat, 32, were charged following terror raids in Sydney on July 29, and two others were released.

Khaled Khayat and Mahmoud Khayat were both charged with two counts of acting in preparation for, or planning, a terrorist act.

Another Khayat brother is believed to be an ISIS commander in Syria, while Mr Machnouk claimed another brother was in custody in Lebanon.

Brother Tarek Khayat allegedly put the pair in Sydney in contact with a dangerous ISIS heavyweight known as ‘The Controller’ in April, who instructed them on how to build the bomb.

Police alleged the components of that bomb had already been flown into Australia from Turkey as air cargo and assembled in Sydney.

Deakin University terror expert Greg Barton suggested the plan may have centred around acetone peroxide – or TATP.

It was the same chemical used in the Manchester Arena bombing in May and the 2015 Paris attacks, and though unstable can be powerful when placed in a pressure vessel.

Police would not name the ISIS commander who allegedly sent the explosives to Sydney but said he was ‘not Australian’ and was not related to any of the local terrorism targets.

Mr Machnouk said a fifth, previously unknown, brother was involved and holed up with fellow jihadists in ISIS’ defacto capital of Raqqa in Syria.

After the bomb plan failed, The Controller allegedly told the would-be terrorists how to construct an ‘improvised chemical dispersion device’.

Their alleged new plan was to release highly toxic hydrogen sulfide gas into Sydney Airport and on public transport at the same time.

Police stressed the alleged conspirators ‘were a mile-and-a-half from having a functioning chemical dispersion device’.

But a Daily Mail Australia source claimed it was just ‘a fluke’ the Khayat brothers were caught before the alleged second attempt, which was ‘very close’ – even just days or hours from happening.

‘Our tip said if they were going back to the airport, they would let it off in there if they couldn’t get it on a plane,’ the source said.

Letting the alleged terrorists back through the doors of the country’s busiest airport was not an option, the source said.

‘We were told to act if we saw them go to the airport.’

The source said authorities took the tip seriously and it was the most dangerous operation they have been involved in because of how far along the alleged plot was.

Australian security agencies were reportedly unaware of the plot until British and American operatives tipped them off, but Mr Machnouk appeared to be implying it was actually Lebanon.

IMAGES:

Khaled Khayat, 49, (picture) and Mahmoud Khayat, 32, were charged following terror raids in Sydney on July 29, and two other were arrested by released
Khaled Khayat and his brother allegedly planned to sneak the bomb on to the plane in the luggage of an unwitting fourth brother

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