A suspected anti-Semitic terror plot has been revealed as a fake after police today made several arrests over the caravan loaded with explosives abandoned by a Sydney roadside.
The caravan lay beside a property in Dural, north-west Sydney, for 12 days in January until a local resident reported it, sparking a multi-agency probe.
An investigation revealed the explosives found inside could have created a 40m-wide blast.
But Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Krissy Barrett today revealed it was a ‘criminal con job’.
‘We believe the person pulling the strings wanted changes to their criminal status, but maintained a distance from their scheme and hired alleged local criminals to carry out parts of their plan.
‘However, the plan was foiled.’
Early on Monday, officers from NSW Police and Australian Federal Police launched a series of raids across Sydney’s east and arrested 14 people in connection with the caravan.
They have been charged with 49 offences.
AFP’s Deputy Commissioner Krissy Barrett (not pictured) called the plot a ‘criminal con job’
Police are investigating a possible terror threat after a caravan was found with explosives and a note containing the address of Jewish people and a synagogue
The plan was to buy a van, rig it with explosives and anti-Semitic materials and then inform law enforcement about a terrorist attack, Ms Barrett said.
‘The caravan was never going to cause a mass casualty event.
‘This twisted self serving criminality has terrorised Jewish Australians.
‘What organized crime has done to the Jewish community is reprehensible, and it won’t go without consequences.’
During the investigation, Ms Barrett said police received tip offs about other terror plots and they were investigate but in the end they were ‘fabricated’.
‘Too many criminals are accused of paying others to carry out anti-Semitic or terrorism incidents to get our attention and divert our resources.’
Ms Barrett also gave some ‘advice’ to criminals during the press conference:
‘Serve your time quietly in prison and stop diverting the resources of terrorism investigators, otherwise your charges could be significantly upgraded.’
NSW Police Deputy Commissioner David Hudson said the crimes carried out by the organised group were to ’cause chaos’
The plot was initially believed to be linked to anti-Semitic attacks after a note was found inside the caravan with the addresses of Jewish people and a synagogue.
It also included the words: ‘F*** the Jews.’
But NSW Police Deputy Commissioner David Hudson told reporters on Monday the plot and other alleged hate crimes investigated in the operation Strike Force Pearl were not motivated by anti-Semitism but ‘carried out by criminals’.
‘It was about causing chaos within the community, causing threat, causing angst, diverting police resources away from their day jobs.’
The charges laid today are not only related to Operation Kissinger – the caravan investigation – but also to Strike Force Pearl, an ongoing investigation into a series of anti-Semitic incidents from November 2024 to January 2025.
Of the 14 arrested, five people have been charged, including a 33-year-old man who police allege spray-painted graffiti on motor vehicles and properties on February 2.
He was due to appear at Parramatta Local Court earlier today.
A 40-year-old man was arrested at Penshurst and police allege that he spray painted graffiti at a home and a school at Maroubra, a shopping centre at Eastgardens, and a home at Eastlakes.
NSW Police and AFP carried out raids across Sydney on Monday morning
Of the 14 people arrested, NSW police say five people have been charged
He was was due to appear at Sutherland Local Court earlier today.
Two men, aged 41 and 34, were arrested at Burwood Police Station after being transferred from a correctional facility.
Police allege the younger man directed the commission of the arson attacks at Bondi Beach and they say he was remanded in custody and will appear in court on Tuesday.
The older man was charged with an additional offence of destroy/damage property intend criminal activity of group.
He was remanded in custody to appear at Downing Centre Local Court on Thursday 27 March 2025.
The fifth person charged was a 27-year-old woman, facing three counts of possessing prohibited drugs, two counts of possessing/attempting to, prescribed restricted substance, and possessing or using a prohibited weapon.
She was granted conditional bail to appear at Downing Centre Local Court on April 10.
NSW Police don’t believe there is any ongoing threat to the community from a terrorist act.
There remains a number of ongoing targets, police said, some of whom are based abroad.
NSW Premier Chris Minns told Daily Mail Australia that NSW government and police can ‘never accept’ the hateful incidents carried out.
‘There is no mistake that these acts have wrought fear and anxiety in our Jewish community and we will not tolerate this, not now, not ever,’ he said.
‘Police will allege that those arrested today for the most serious of these crimes had criminal and financial motives.
‘But nobody should be in any doubt, we have endured a summer of hateful, vicious incidents such as vile anti-Semitic graffiti attacks and many of these appear to have been motivated simply by nasty, racist hatred.’
