Australian Federal Police recently revealed that the explosives-laden campervan found on the roadside in northwest Sydney was a "fabricated terrorism plot" designed to create fear within the Jewish community, but posed no risk of causing mass casualties. Police have conducted multiple raids in response to recent anti-Semitic attacks and arrested 14 people, who have been charged with 49 offenses.
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03-10, 2025In announcing the arrests, the Australian Federal Police revealed that the campervan filled with explosives found in Dural in January was not a terrorist attack, but an attempt by organized criminals to threaten the Jewish community. Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Krissy Barrett stated that veteran investigators from the Joint Counter Terrorism Team recognized almost immediately after discovering the campervan that the incident was a fabricated terror plot, essentially a criminal scam.
Deputy Commissioner Barrett explained that investigators reached this conclusion because of the information they possessed, the ease with which the campervan was found, and the visibility of the explosives inside the vehicle. Furthermore, there were no detonators in the campervan. She emphasized that the campervan would not have caused mass casualties and was carefully planned by criminals for personal gain, with the aim of creating fear in the Jewish community. Nevertheless, this remains an outrageous crime.
Deputy Commissioner Barrett stated that regardless of the motives of those behind the scenes, this false conspiracy has had a chilling effect on the Jewish community. She strongly condemned this twisted, selfish criminal behavior, stating that the harm caused by organized crime to the Jewish community is unforgivable and will be punished. She also mentioned that other communities have been subjected to undue suspicion, which is also unacceptable. She advised the criminals to serve their sentences quietly in prison and not to divert counter-terrorism investigators' attention any further, otherwise their charges could be significantly upgraded.
New South Wales Police Deputy Commissioner David Hudson stated that all those arrested that morning were related to other anti-Semitic crimes in Sydney, not the campervan conspiracy, but there was an important connection between the two. Deputy Commissioner Hudson pointed out that the campervan incident and other incidents were planned by the same person or the same group of people. While no one has yet been directly arrested or charged in connection with the Dural campervan incident, police believe they have identified those behind it.
Deputy Commissioner Barrett added that police believe the mastermind is a well-known figure in the field of organized crime, and they are tracking multiple targets, some within Australia and others overseas. She also stated that there was no evidence of state actors being involved. Deputy Commissioner Hudson emphasized that none of those arrested had shown "any form of anti-Semitic ideology," but the threat to the community posed by arson and explosives was real. He understands the anxiety these events have caused the Jewish community and said police have been in close contact with them. Police believe that the community is not currently under a continuing threat of terrorist attack.
