The brother of Australian cricketer Usman Khawaja was arrested Tuesday by counter-terrorism police over an apparently fake list of terror targets that included former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.

A police source told AFP Arsakan Khawaja, 39, was arrested in suburban Sydney and is being questioned in relation to allegations he attempted to pervert justice by making a false document.

"The arrest relates to documents allegedly found on University of (New South Wales) grounds in August this year containing plans to facilitate terrorism attacks," police said in a statement.

The Australian newspaper reported that Arsakan Khawaja is a university colleague of Mohamed Kamer Nizamdeen, a 25-year-old who was arrested in August over the purported terror list, but later released, as the script did not match his handwriting.

It did not appear from the charges that the list was linked to any credible assassination plots. The motivation for writing the list is unclear.

Pakistan born Australian batsman Usman Khawaja is due to make a return from injury this Thursday against India in the first of a four match series.

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