Duo lived together in suburban flat

The authorities in Australia say the two men charged with plotting an “imminent” terror attack in Sydney lived together in a white “granny” flat on the west side of Sydney in a suburb called Fairfield.

Mohammad Kiad, 25, and Omar Al Kutobi, 24, were about to attack a Sydney police station and officers on the street, said media reports, with attacks scheduled for just before midnight on Tuesday.

Kutobi is from Iraq and was granted Australian citizenship last year.

Based on his Facebook profile, Kiad is from Kuwait and has been married since January 2010.

He could not transfer his nursing qualifications when he moved to Australia in 2013 and worked as a furniture mover with Kutobi, but was sacked last week. His social media profiles show a love of Rolex watches, weight-lifting and listening to music.

Neighbour Teresita Heisele-Brown told Australian media that Kutobi was friendlier than Kiad, who was “shy”, but both had become withdrawn over the past month. She added that they rarely cooked and usually ordered pizza or Chinese food.

Another neighbour, Mr Michael David, told reporters that Kutobi had changed his look after the police anti-terror raids in western Sydney last September that resulted in the arrest of alleged terror plotter Omarjam Azari. The pair traded their Nike sneakers and jeans for religious robes and long beards.

“I heard them praying in there and reading the Koran,” said Mr David, who speaks Arabic.

Ms Heisele-Brown said Kutobi had been talking about going to Germany where his mother lives and had been waiting for his mother to send him money.

She said she had noticed that after the recent Martin Place siege in which two hostages were killed, the two men had had lengthy discussions in Arabic and watched a lot of television. AGENCIEs