One of four men arrested in Sydney over an alleged terrorist plot to bomb a plane destined for the Middle East has been charged with a non-terror related offence and released.
Khaled Merhi, 39, who was arrested last Saturday alongside three other men in police raids across Sydney, was charged with possession of a prohibited weapon on Sunday and granted bail.
Merhi, who used a grey hoodie to hide his face from awaiting media, had his right arm in a sling as he was driven out of NSW Police Headquarters.
He was named by his lawyer Moustafa Kheir, who tweeted: "My client Khaled Merhi has also been released. Cleared of any terror allegation," on Sunday afternoon.
Merhi had been held under specific provisions of the Commonwealth Crimes Act relating to terrorism investigations.
Meanwhile, two of the four men have been charged with preparing for or planning a terrorist act while a 50-year-old man was released without charge.
Khaled Mahmoud Khayat, 49, of Lakemba, and co-accused 32-year-old Mahmoud Khayat, of Punchbowl, had their matter mentioned in Parramatta Local Court on Friday after being charged on Thursday night.
Khaled Mahmoud Khayat was accused of attempting to have his brother take a bomb on an Abu Dhabi-bound flight on July 15.
His unnamed sibling was unaware the military-grade explosive was hidden in a meat grinder and stashed in his luggage but it never made it through security, police said.
They also alleged a second was planned after the first plot failed. It involved an attempt to build an improvised chemical dispersion device to fill a plane with hydrogen sulfide, a colourless toxic gas.
The pair were refused bail ahead of another court mention on November 14, while Merhi was bailed to appear in Downing Centre Local Court on August 24.
