Raids were conducted on a number of houses in south-western Sydney on Sunday and six people were interviewed.

Bob Carr, premier of New South Wales state, described the man, Willie Virgile Brigitte, as a "serious character whose presence here was worrying".

Mr Brigitte was deported to France on 17 October because of alleged immigration violations and is now being held there on terror-related charges.

He came under suspicion after French authorities told Canberra in a report on 22 September that Mr Brigitte was possibly in Australia for terror-related activity.

"He was asked, the report says, to give shelter to an expert in explosives," Attorney General Philip Ruddock told Australian Broadcasting Radio Corporaton on Monday.

French officials told the Australian Government he had spent months in al-Qaida training camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Hunt for associates

Australian Justice Minister Chris Ellison said warrants had been used against people connected to Mr Brigitte and investigations were continuing.

"I will not discuss the result of actions taken under the warrants but I can say they were directed against a number of people who it was believed could have material relating to Mr Brigitte's presence in Australia," said Mr Ellison.

Police said that they had seized "useful items of property" during their raids on premises in Sydney.

Bob Carr said he believed the police action had helped to break up the makings of a terror cell.

"I think it is likely that we have prevented something, I think it's likely that this police work has prevented something given (Mr Brigitte's) training, given the suggestion of expertise in explosives, given his associations in France," he said.