A caravan filled with explosives, discovered in Sydney’s north-west back in January, has now been described as a “fabricated terrorism plot” involving a number of individuals, as the Australian Federal Police (AFP) provide public details about the investigation for the first time.
In a statement on Monday, the AFP offered more information around Operation Kissinger, the investigation into the caravan found with explosives and antisemitic material in Dural on January 19, 2025.
Any perceived threat was mitigated within hours of the caravan being found, the AFP said, and the investigation was referred to the NSW Joint Counter Terrorism Team (JCTT), which includes the AFP, NSW Police, ASIO and the NSW Crime Commission.
“Almost immediately, experienced investigators within the JCTT believed that the caravan was part of a fabricated terrorism plot – essentially a criminal con job,” explained Krissy Barrett, AFP deputy commissioner, national security.
“This was because of the information they already had, how easily the caravan was found and how visible the explosives were in the caravan. Also, there was no detonator.”
Barrett described the caravan as part of a ‘criminal con job’. (Source: NSW Police)
The caravan was “never going to cause a mass casualty event”, she clarified, but it was “concocted by criminals who wanted to cause fear for personal benefit”.
Additionally, authorities were confident all the tip-offs received about other terror plots were fake but kept investigation at the highest level out of an abundance of caution, Barrett added.
“We are now confident that all these tip-offs were fabricated, and the caravan plot was an elaborate scheme contrived by organised criminals, domestically and from offshore,” she said.
The AFP elaborated various people were involved in this fake terrorism plot, including organising to buy a caravan, placing explosives and written material of an anti-semitic nature inside it, leaving it at a specific location, and informing law enforcements “about an impending terror attack against Jewish Australians“.
“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,” she said.
An AFP operational strategy is in place to take action against this individual, however Barrett stopped short of any further comments on this.
The effect of the organised crime on the Jewish community has been “reprehensible” and the AFP are currently working with law enforcement officials, both local and overseas, as part of its investigation, Barrett said.
Addressing recent rise of antisemitic attacks
Separately, NSW Premier Chris Minns and Minister for Police and Counter-terrorism Yasmin Catley announced NSW Police have executed 11 search warrants and three firearm prohibition orders resulting in the arrests of 14 people in relation to a recent string of anti-semitic attacks in the state.
None of the arrests made across Sydney on Monday are in relation to the caravan, as reported by ABC News.
In a joint statement, Minns and Catley stated the arrests linked to Operation Strike Force Pearl are the “culmination of dogged, round the clock police work” tackling a marked rise of anti-semitic incidents.
“A huge amount of resources have been thrown at these investigations – the NSW Police Force stood up Strike Force Pearl to investigate hate crimes involving criminal activity and in January, police doubled the number of detectives attached to it,” they said.
“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.”
They continued there has been a “summer of hateful, vicious incidents” — which has seen numerous locations graffitied with offensive antisemitic content as well as synagogues set alight — amid motivations of “nasty, racist hatred”.
“We can never accept that. The NSW Government and NSW Police Force will remain vigilant and act swiftly to bring perpetrators to justice so as to eradicate this atrocious behaviour whenever it occurs,” they said.
Of the new arrests on Monday, five people have been charged, and it is expected that more arrests will come, per ABC News.
Lead image: NSW Police Media / 9News
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