The rate at which suspected terrorists are being blocked from departing Australia has doubled in the past year, a report said Sunday, amid a government crackdown of its nationals travelling to Iraq or Syria to fight.
There were 312 people pulled off planes in the seven months to the end of January, compared to 336 in the almost 12-month period before that, Sydney's Sun-Herald newspaper reported.
The immigration department confirmed the figures to AFP but it was not clear how many of the suspected jihadists stopped from leaving the island continent were actually heading to the Middle East to fight, and some were eventually allowed to resume their journey.