More than 100 counter-terrorism police are investigating after a caravan was found laden with explosives at a residential property in greater Sydney with indications the explosives would be used in an antisemitic attack.
Police said they had found the caravan on a property in Dural, on the outskirts of Sydney on 19 January after a report was made.
The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, told reporters on Wednesday that it had the potential to have led to a “mass casualty event”.
“There will be absolutely no tolerance under any circumstances for these acts of criminal violence in our community,” he said.
NSW deputy police commissioner David Hudson said that some people on the “periphery” of the incident had been arrested, and that the risk had been mitigated, but not yet eliminated. He also said 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.
Hudson told reporters on Wednesday the caravan laden with explosives represented a different level of danger from the attacks seen recently in Sydney, such as graffiti and arson attacks.
“This is certainly an escalation of that with the use of explosives that have the potential to cause a great deal of damage.”
Asked how much damage the explosives could have caused, Hudson estimated the blast zone could have been 40 metres in diameter.
Hudson said the joint counter-terrorism team – including the NSW police force, the Australian federal police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation – were investigating the incident.
Hudson said over the past 10 days the police investigation had progressed, however he said “there is a lot to do”.
Last week, the AFP revealed it was investigating whether foreign actors had paid local criminals to carry out some of the recent antisemitic vandalism, which has included arson attacks and graffiti on synagogues and in suburban streets.
Hudson was asked on Wednesday if the investigation into the explosives indicated it involved paid criminals.
“We can’t speculate about what happened until we actually investigate that,” he said. One of the “main lines of inquiry” was who had placed the caravan and who “may have orchestrated” the placement.
He said police did not know what the alleged perpetrators’ ideological motivation was, but nothing was being ruled out.
“We [will] pursue everything until we get to the truth,” he said.
Hudson said police were appealing for assistance from anyone who may have seen the caravan parked in a “hazardous position” in Dural between 7 December and 19 January.
Police believe the explosives were Powergel – an emulsion-based explosive – and may have been obtained from a mining site.
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He said it would not be appropriate to reveal the suspected targets, and there was no information pointing to further explosives “in our community” in relation to any potential antisemitic attacks.
“We believe that we have contained appropriately this current threat,” Hudson said. “We will not rest until these matters are resolved.”
Asked what reassurance he could give the Jewish community that the attacks would not escalate, Minns said: “It’s with great regret that I can’t make that guarantee.”
“There’s bad actors in our community, badly motivated, bad ideologies, bad morals, bad ethics, bad people. They’re intent on doing damage and harm to others in our community, people they’ve never met before, purely on the basis of their religion,” he said. “It’s hateful. It’s an ideology that we need to stamp out.
“What I can promise is the full force of the law and a massive, massive and growing police response.”
Anthony Albanese also condemned the incident, saying “hate and extremism have no place in Australian society”. The prime minister said the AFP’s special Operation Avalite continued to investigate threats to the Jewish community.
Liberal MP Julian Leeser, who is the federal member for Berowra which takes in Dural, said he was “deeply disturbed” by news of the incident and encouraged Australians to stand together against hatred.
“I am deeply disturbed at today’s revelations about a potential terror plot targeting the Jewish community with a potential mass casualty event,” he said.
“This is another sad reminder of the hatreds Jewish Australians have endured over recent times. It keeps escalating. But equally it stands as a stark contrast to the goodness, decency and stoicism of Jewish Australians.”
The Zionist Federation of Australia said in a statement: “This is undoubtedly the most severe threat to the Jewish community in Australia to date. The plot, if executed, would likely have resulted in the worst terrorist attack on Australian soil.”
Amir Maimon, the Israeli ambassador to Australia, said he was also deeply alarmed. He said the police and the premier had assured him that “every measure is being taken to protect the community”.
Peter Dutton called the news “as sickening as it is horrifying”, adding it was a “grave and sinister escalation”. The shadow minister for home affairs, James Paterson, said the discovery was an “incredibly disturbing development in an escalating domestic terrorism crisis”.
The police have not designated the incident as a terrorist attack.
