Revealed: Police chief Ashton says roadside police had access to Bourke St terrorist’s counter-terrorism ‘red flags’

It’s been confirmed there would have been a red flag on this year’s Bourke Street terrorist when he was pulled over for traffic offences and granted bail.

Last week, the Attorney General Martin Pakula insisted crucial information about Hassan Khalif Shire Ali was not passed onto police.

In that scenario, the officers who pulled him over for traffic offences long before the Bourke Street terror attack on November 9 simply weren’t to know of Shire Ali’s circumstances.

“For example, the fact that his passport had been cancelled had not been conveyed to Victoria Police,” Mr Pakula said at the time.

But today, Chief Commissioner Graham Ashton told Neil Mitchell that information would have been available when police accessed the LEAP database.

Click PLAY to watch Ashton’s response

Well, this is interesting…

Graham Ashton confirms there would have been a red flag on the Bourke St terrorist when he was pulled over https://t.co/LGuMH9d2qn pic.twitter.com/IeyTzpgTXO

— 3AW Melbourne (@3AW693) November 21, 2018

“What comes up on the LEAP system is an alert flag,” Mr Ashton said.

“People who are subject of the counter-terrorism team’s interest, they put POI (person of interest) flags on LEAP.

“There would’ve been attention drawn to the POI for counter-terrorism.”

The fact that roadside police could access that information also casts doubt as to why Mr Ashton nor the government informed the public of Shire Ali’s bail and counter-terrorism record until it was exposed by a journalist one week later.

• RELATED: Chief Commissioner admits he avoided question about Bourke St terrorist’s bail on night of attack

However, Mr Ashton the officer made the right decision by granting Shire Ali roadside bail.

“If someone’s a person of interest, it just means they’re being investigated and it’s not a criminal offence, for example, that they can act on,” he said.

Click PLAY for full interview