Two teenage brothers stopped at Sydney airport are "kids not killers" and have been saved from potential death in the Middle East, Immigration Minister Peter Dutton says.
The 16- and 17-year-old boys from southwest Sydney were intercepted by Customs counter-terrorism officials on Friday night after a search of their luggage raised suspicions they were travelling overseas to fight.
Mr Dutton praised the Customs officers for potentially saving the boys' lives.
"These two young men ... are kids, not killers, and they shouldn't be allowed to go to a foreign land to fight and to come back to our shores eventually more radicalised," he told reporters in Brisbane.
"In some cases, these young people who are going off to fight in areas like Syria will be killed themselves and that's a tragedy for their families, for their communities and for our country."
