Cases against Sydney terror suspects due in court

Police threw a tight security cordon around a Sydney court room Friday ahead of hearings for nine men arrested this week and charged with involvement in a plot to carry out a major terror attack.

Dozens of officers patrolled outside the downtown court building ahead of the hearings while inside several young men with long beards and flowing white Islamic robes sat waiting.

The hearing was to have been held early Friday, but defense lawyer Phillip Boulten told Sydney magistrate Allan Moore he had not yet been able to contact one of his clients, who was being held in a western Sydney jail.

Moore agreed to postpone a hearing for the eight suspects until early afternoon. Eight of the suspects are expected to appear in court via video links.

A 25-year-old man snatched from his car by counterterror police also was due in court Friday.

Sydney police said authorities in Melbourne were expected to seek the 25-year-old man's extradition to Victoria state to charge him there, leading to speculation that he was a link man between two terror cells intelligence agents say were operating in the cities of Sydney and Melbourne under the leadership of a Melbourne-based radical Islamic cleric.

Another defense lawyer in the case, Adam Houda, said the suspects likely would plead innocent, AP reported. V.A.