CANBERRA: The radical Islamist group that allegedly planned to attack a Sydney military base has links to al-Qaida and is profiting from piracy off the coast of northern Africa, Australian Associated Press reported on Tuesday.

Police was quoted as saying the al-Shabbab group was deep into planning what would have been the most elaborate attack on Australian soil.

Australian police officers are seen at a house in the suburb of Glenroy in Melbourne, which was raided in connection to planned terror attacks August 4, 2009. [Agencies]

Al-Shabbab is not listed as a terrorist group in Australia, but has been listed in the United States since February 2008.

It reportedly has close links with al-Qaida leaders, including Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, an architect of the 1998 attacks on the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in which 223 people died.

Andrew Mwangura from the East African Seafarers' Assistance Program has indicated the money from piracy goes directly to funding onshore activities.

Meanwhile, Sarah Phillips from the Centre for International Studies suggested a raid involving 400 security officers might have indirectly made the group look bigger than it really is domestically.

"You need to be quite careful about overstating their (al-Shabbab's) presence here in Australia," she told Sky News.  

The Australian Defense Association suggested there need to be less worry about the raids and more praise for police and spy agencies.

"The secret of counter-terrorism is intelligence-led policing, "the association's executive director Neil James said.

"This plot has been thwarted at an early stage," said James.