A caravan has been found laden with explosives at a residential property in greater Sydney, with police saying there were indications the explosives would be used in an antisemitic attack.
New South Wales police have said that the incident is an “escalation” and the explosives had the potential to cause a “great deal of damage”.
Here’s what we know so far:
What did police discover?
Police said they were contacted on 19 January about a caravan in Dural, a semi-rural suburb in north-west Sydney.
They were called by a man who had discovered the caravan parked on the side of a road in the suburb on 7 December. He believed the vehicle was parked in a hazardous manner for other road users, so he towed it to his property in Dural.
The vehicle was padlocked, and he did not immediately contact the police. Only after he decided to break open the caravan and saw there were explosives inside did he contact police.
Explosives were discovered in the caravan on 19 January. There was also an indication the explosives might be used in “some form of antisemitic attack”, with police saying a list of location targets used by the Jewish community was found in the caravan.
A covert investigation was then launched, including state and federal authorities.
Police said they informed the Jewish community of the targets shortly after, but its leaders have since said they were in the dark and only learned of the caravan in media reports on Wednesday.
After details about the caravan’s discovery were leaked to the media, authorities went public with the incident.
What kind of explosives were found?
Police said the van is believed to have contained enough explosives to create a 40-metre blast zone. Police believe the explosives were Powergel – an emulsion-based explosive – and were potentially obtained from a mining site.
However no detonator was found with the explosives, police said on Thursday.
Has anyone been arrested or charged?
Three people have been arrested who police allege were “on the periphery” of the incident.
The deputy police commissioner David Hudson said the registered owner of the caravan was in custody “based on offences being investigated under Strike Force Pearl”. The strike force was set up to investigate hate crimes with an antisemitic focus across Sydney.
“At the time the caravan was located, he was in custody,” Hudson told media on Thursday.
Hudson also said police were investigating whether the incident may be linked to some people already charged for their alleged involvement in the spate of recent antisemitic attacks.
“We believe there is some connection between some of the targets we’ve charged under Strike Force Pearl and this particular investigation,” he said.
Ten people have been arrested and charged so far under the Strike Force Pearl operation in relation to antisemitic and anti-Israel vandalism and arson attacks in Sydney over the past two months.
Hudson was asked on Wednesday if the investigation into the explosives indicated it involved paid criminals after the AFP revealed last week it was investigating whether “paid actors” were behind some recent antisemitic attacks.
“We can’t speculate about what happened until we actually investigate that,” he said, adding that one of the “main lines of inquiry” was who placed the caravan and who “may have orchestrated” the placement.
He said police did not know the alleged perpetrators’ ideological motivator, but nothing was being ruled out at this point.
“We [will] pursue everything until we get to the truth,” he said.
What are authorities doing in response?
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, said a “massive” response had been mobilised to investigate the incident, comprising the NSW police, Australian federal police, Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and New South Wales Crime Commission.
The response includes 100 counter-terrorism officers, as well as scores of officers from operations Pearl and Shelter.
Minns said: “This is the discovery of a potential mass casualty event.”
“There’s only one way of calling it out, and that is terrorism. That’s what we’re very worried about. This would strike terror into the community, particularly the Jewish community, and it must be met with the full resources of the government.”
Is there an ongoing threat?
Police have said the matter is not yet being treated as a terrorist incident. Police have also said there is no ongoing threat to the community in relation to the caravan.
The police commissioner, Karen Webb, said: “It’s important that the public understands that not only [has] the caravan been removed and the contents removed from the public, but also the owner is out of play and in custody. So the risk to the public has been mitigated very early on.”
The prime minister and the premier have characterised the incident as a potential terrorist attack.
Anthony Albanese was asked on Thursday on ABC Radio Sydney: “Do you classify this as terrorism as well, prime minister?”
He responded: “I certainly do. I agree with Chris Minns. It’s clearly designed to harm people, but it’s also designed to create fear in the community. And that is the very definition.”
“It hasn’t been designated yet by the NSW police, but certainly is being investigated, including by the joint counter terrorism team,” Albanese said.
