Police have arrested a couple they describe as being on the ‘periphery’ of a suspected anti-Semitic terror plot – after a caravan was found loaded with explosives.
For 12 days the caravan was left beside a property in Dural in northwest Sydney before a resident reported it, sparking a multi-agency probe into the suspected terror plot that could have led to an explosion impact up to 40 metres across.
Police believe the incident could be linked to other anti-Semitic attacks in recent weeks, and said it had the potential to become a mass casualty event targeting the Jewish community.
A note found inside contained addresses of Jewish people and a synagogue and included the words, ‘f*** the Jews’.
The explosive material is believed to be power gel sourced from a mining site and could have resulted in a significant amount of damage, NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Dave Hudson said.
Arrests have been made ‘on the periphery’ of the case, Dep Comm Hudson said.
It is understood the ‘periphery’ arrests were that of Tammie Farrugia, charged last week over an alleged anti-Semitic attack at Woollahra in December.
And the other arrest was Farrugia’s boyfriend Scott Marshall, who was charged late last year with weapons and drug offences to which he has pleaded not guilty.
The couple arrested on the ‘periphery’ of the attack had posted on Facebook just last month asking to buy a caravan.
On December 6, Tammie Farrugia tagged her boyfriend, Scott Marshall, in a post that read: ‘Looking for a caravan for sale hit me up if U have one cheers’.
The arrests were made in relation to separate incidents, not the caravan – and as of Thursday morning Neither Farrugia or Marshall have been charged. There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing.
The caravan’s owner is in police custody after they were arrested previously over other alleged offences.
‘In relation to the specific offences related to the caravan, we have people charged on the periphery of that investigation. Inquiries are ongoing in relation to their involvement with the caravan or not,’ Dep Comm Hudson said.
Meanwhile, an officer involved in the operation has told The Daily Telegraph, ‘some things just don’t add up’.
‘Leaving notes and addresses are too obvious, likewise leaving it on a public road makes us believe it could well possibly be a set up.’
Dep Comm Hudson said: ‘Obviously that is a consideration we are looking into as well. It is not unusual for certain elements of the criminal fraternity to try and seek assistance by disclosing certain weapons or explosives to police seeking assistance.’
Police are still looking for help from the public in their investigation, particularly from anyone who saw the caravan parked ‘in a hazardous position’ by the side of Derriwong Road, Dural, between December 7 and January 19.
A joint counter terror investigation involving 100 officers has been set up to investigate.
Police are yet to confirm if the plot is linked to far-right extremists, Islamic terrorists or any other group, local or foreign.
‘We don’t have any particular ideology in relation to what’s causing this or any common links between certain ideologies, but nothing’s excluded at this stage,’ Dep Comm Hudson told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday night.
‘We pursue everything until we get to the truth, and we will do that.’
NSW Police is now working in partnership with AFP, the NSW Crime Commission and ASIO in its ongoing investigation
‘That caravan contained an amount of explosives and some indication that those explosives might be used in some form of anti-Semitic attack,’ NSW Police Dep Comm David Hudson said.
‘We’re taking this seriously and all lines of inquiry are being pursued, but I want to stress we do not believe there is an ongoing threat from this discovery.’
It’s understood the resident who reported the van to police was concerned that the seemingly dumped vehicle posed a safety risk to passing cars.
The man had towed the caravan onto his property before discovering its contents.
Police have since seized the van.
NSW Premier Chris Minns described the incident as the foiling of a potential mass casualty event.
‘There’s only one way of calling it out and that is terrorism,’ he said.
‘I want to make it very clear, please take this threat incredibly seriously.
‘As I’ve said for many, many weeks now, the full resources of the state of NSW and NSW have been deployed to confront this very serious threat to our community.
‘I want to make it absolutely clear, and I understand community concerns about this story and similar escalating incidents of anti-Semitic violence in our community that anyone attempting terrorism, violence, hatred in our community will be met with the full force of the law, that there are massive amounts of police and government resources being devoted to this investigation, that there will be absolutely no tolerance under any circumstances for these acts of criminal violence in our community.’
Police believe the threat stemming from the dumped van has been contained.
‘We will not rest until these matters are resolved,’ Dep Comm Hudson said.
‘We understand the concerns of the community. We understand the concerns of the Jewish community, and we take all these threats exceptionally seriously.’
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has ‘unequivocally’ condemned the act.
‘The full might of the AFP, ASIO and NSW Police are being utilised in this major investigation by the Joint Counter Terrorism Team,’ he said in a statement.
‘The NSW Police have people in custody and continue with other agencies, including those involved in AFP Special Operation Avalite to investigate threats, violence and hatred towards the n Jewish community, and take action and hold people to account for crimes.
‘Hate and extremism have no place in n society.’
The incident comes after a spate of anti-Semitic attacks in Sydney, with a childcare centre near a synagogue in the city’s east set alight and sprayed with anti-Semitic graffiti on January 21.
Four days before, a house that formerly belonged to Executive Council of n Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin was targeted in an arson and graffiti attack.
Two men have been charged over a separate attack on a synagogue in Newtown after it was spray-painted with red swastikas and briefly set alight in the early hours of January 11.
Federal police have identified that foreign actors recruiting local ‘criminals for hire’ could be behind some of the attacks targeting Jewish communities.
Cars have been set alight, a synagogue burnt down and anti-Semitic slurs painted on buildings and cars in attacks that have escalated in frequency and severity since December.
* November 21: Anti-Semitic and anti-Israel graffiti was sprayed and a car was set on fire in an eastern Sydney suburb with a large Jewish population. Three men have been charged
* December 6: The Adass Israel Synagogue in south Melbourne was burned down in an attack Prime Minister Anthony Albanese labelled an act of terrorism
* December 11: Graffiti including ‘Kill Israiel’ (sic) was sprayed on buildings and footpaths and the perpetrators’ car set on fire in a Sydney suburb with a large Jewish community. A 34-year-old woman has been charged
* January 6: Anti-Semitic slogans were painted on a car and sprayed on nearby buildings and footpaths in Sydney’s east
* January 10: Swastikas were painted on the Southern Sydney Synagogue in an act the NSW premier labelled ‘disgusting and disgraceful’
* January 11: A synagogue in Sydney’s inner west was spray-painted with red swastikas and vandals attempted to set it on fire
* January 16: Police charged a man who allegedly used social media to make death threats against members of the Jewish community
* January 17: A house that formerly belonged to Executive Council of n Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin was targeted in an arson and graffiti attack
*January 21: A childcare centre near the Maroubra Synagogue in Sydney’s east was set on fire with an anti-Semitic slogan sprayed on a wall
* January 29: Police announce a caravan filled with explosives and a note containing addresses of Jewish people and institutions was found 10 days earlier in northwest Sydney.
Source: n Associated Press