Australia's most wanted terrorist, Islamic State recruiter Neil Prakash, has handed himself over to authorities in Turkey, according to the ABC.
Prakash, who was believed to have been killed in an air strike in Iraq in May, was arrested several weeks ago after authorities in Australia contacted Turkey, saying he wanted to enter the country, the ABC reports.
Earlier today, the New York Times reported that Prakash was only wounded in the air strike, not killed, and had been arrested.
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In May, Australian Defence Minister Marise Payne released a joint statement with Attorney-General George Brandis saying they had received reports from the US government that Prakash had been killed.
Mr Brandis described Prakash as the most dangerous Australian engaged with IS, being actively involved in recruitment and encouraging domestic terrorist events in Australia.
“The Australian Government has been advised by the United States Government that Australian citizen and member of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Neil Christopher Prakash, was killed by a US airstrike in Mosul, Iraq, on 29 April 2016,” the statement released on May 5 said.
“Neil Prakash was a prominent ISIL member and a senior terrorist recruiter and attack facilitator. Prakash has been linked to several Australia-based attack plans and calls for lone-wolf attacks against the United States.
“He has appeared in ISIL propaganda videos and magazines and has actively recruited Australian men, women and children, and encouraged acts of terrorism. He is considered to be Australia’s most prominent ISIL recruiter.”
Counter-terrorism expert Greg Barton said at the time that Prakash was more a mouthpiece for IS rather than a mastermind - but he was significant due to his links to a failed Anzac Day terror plot in Melbourne and the shooting death of NSW police worker Curtis Cheng in western Sydney last year.