Seven young Australians were stopped at airports as they tried to leave to join ISIS (Daesh) in the Middle East, Prime Minister Tony Abbott told reporters Thursday.
The premier provided few details, but in the largest incident, five men were taken off a plane at Sydney airport on Aug. 12, Sydney's Daily Telegraph reported, citing government sources.
The five were red-flagged by immigration officers and found to be carrying large amounts of cash and other suspicious materials, it said.
Their passports were suspended but two of the five tried the next day to leave again, but were once more intercepted.
They are now under investigation by counter-terrorist agencies, the newspaper reported.
The Australian government says more than 150 Australians have left to join Daesh in Iraq. At least 20 of them have been killed and 20 are believed to have returned to Australia.
Sixty passports of suspected extremists have been cancelled and 100 people in Australia are believed to be assisting the militants in some way.
In the past 12 months police have arrested and charged 14 suspected extremists for plotting to attack and behead people in Australia.
Up to a dozen people convicted of extremist plots are currently in jail.
This story has been edited from the source material.
