A caravan, found with explosives in the outer Sydney earlier this year, was part of a “crafted conspiracy for terrorism” prepared by criminals, Australian police said.
The caravan, which was found in northwestern Sydney on January 19, contained enough explosives to create an explosion of 40 meters, along with a note showing anti -Semitic messages and a list of Jewish synagogues.
Its discovery after a number of anti -Semite attacks in Australia have caused widespread panic.
But on Monday, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) revealed that they knew “almost immediately” that the caravan was “essentially criminal work”.
AFP National Security Commissioner Chris Barrett said investigators in the team of joint terrorism of New South Wales believe that a caravan was “part of a crafted conspiracy for terrorism”.
Authorities have come to this conviction on the basis of information they have already had, the ease with which they found the caravan and the visibility of the explosions contained inside – as well as the fact that there is no detonator.
Yet the police refrained from telling the public that he believes that the conspiracy is a false “of an abundance of caution” as they continue to receive advice on other terrorist conspiracy. Now they are confident that these tips are also made, Mrs. Barrett said.
According to police, the false plot for the caravan included several people with different levels of participation. Among them, they had planned to buy a caravan, load it with explosives and anti -Semitic materials, and leave it in a specific place before informing the law enforcement of an “upcoming terrorist attack on Jewish Australians.”
Da Barrett described it as “a complex scheme invented by organized criminals, internally and by offshore”, adding that the leader of the plot maintains a distance and hired alleged local criminals to carry out parts of the operation.
This individual is a well -known figure of organized crime, confirmed G -Ja Barrett. She also added that although no arrests have been made in connection with the incident, police have a number of current goals in both Australia and an offshore.
“Too many criminals are accused of paying others to carry out anti -Semitic or terrorist incidents to get our attention or to divert our resources,” said Gia Barrett. She also noted that police believe that “the man who pulls the strings wants changes in his criminal status.”
Criminals in this type of scenario often use the exchange of information in law enforcement agencies for some personal gain, most of all about reducing the sentences, explained G -ja Barrett.
The BBC News contacted AFP for more details about the suspect of the agenda of those behind a caravan but did not receive any further comment.
“Regardless of the motivation of those responsible for this fake plot, it has a freezing effect on the Jewish community,” says G -ja Barrett in his statement.
“What organized crime has done to the Jewish community is reprimanded and will not pass without consequences. There was also an unjustified suspicion of other communities – and that is also reproach.”
Separately, police in New South Wales arrested 14 people on Monday morning as part of Strike Force Pearl: A police operation established in December 2024 to investigate anti -Semitic hate crimes in Sydney.
The creation of a shock force followed a series of anti -Semitic attacks in Australia at the end of 2024, including the vandalism of a Jewish school in the Eastern suburbs of Sydney and arson of a children's center, which was lit and sprayed with anti -Semite messages.
Speaking to the media on Monday, police said he believed that all those incidents had a “common source” with the Caravan plot.
“The work of the caravan was organized by the same individual or people who organized the pearl incidents,” said NSW police commissioner David Hudson.
In addition, Hudson noted that “none of the people we arrested during the pearl has shown any form of anti -Semitic ideology.”
“Obviously, there was an anti -Semitic attacks of a smaller character and a lot of anger and anger in the community – we saw that from October 7, 2023 … and I think