A wave of serious arson and vandalism attacks against Jewish New South Wales (NSW) targets, including the Dural caravan faux terrorism plot, was part of an organized crime ring’s plan to distract law enforcement and obtain reduced prison sentences in exchange for aiding in the police’s investigation, Australian Federal Police (AFP) National Security Deputy Commissioner Krissy Barrett and Deputy Police Commissioner for the state of New South Wales David Hudson said Monday in a joint press briefing – following the mass arrest of 11 suspects.
Organized domestic and foreign criminal elements, some of them indicated by Barrett to be in prison, were hiring petty criminals to target the Sydney area Jewish community.
Hudson said that there were many motivations for the crime, but as of yet, the investigations had not uncovered any antisemitic animus. Instead, it appeared that organized crime had decided to exploit escalating antisemitism in Australia since October 7, which included a wave of lesser anti-Jewish criminal acts, to sow confusion and disorder with fourteen different attacks in addition to the Dural incident.
Criminals had been submitting false terrorism tips ever since the Dural ruse in which a caravan laden with mining explosives was discovered in a rural property with a note indicating that a synagogue was a target.
In the Dural case, the plan was to divert law enforcement resources so that criminals could carry out other actions, but more so, Hudson and Barrett explained that the mastermind behind the scheme hoped to provide information about fake plots in return for reduced sentences and other benefits.
In one example given by Barrett, criminals fabricated a terrorist plot involving obtaining high-powered firearms, which a criminal offered to provide information for in exchange for reduced drug trafficking charges.
“Too many criminals are accused of paying others to carry out antisemitic or terrorism incidents to get our attention or divert our resources,” said Barrett. “And too many offenders working in the criminal gig economy are accepting these tasks for money.”
No arrests made over crim ring plot
No arrests had been made in Operation Kissinger, the investigation into the caravan plot, but the AFP felt that the inquiry was at an advanced enough stage to reveal that they had suspected that the Dural incident was a fabrication from the very beginning.
The concern about other terrorist plot tips forced them to conceal the information until now. It was revealed in late January that the owner of the caravan was in custody for unrelated crimes.
“Almost immediately, experienced investigators within the joint counter-terrorism team believed that the caravan was part of a fabricated terrorist plot – essentially a criminal con job,” said Barrett.
“This was because of the information they already had about how easily the caravan was found and how visible the explosives were in the caravan. Also, there was no detonator. Today, I can reveal that the caravan was never going to cause a mass casualty event but was instead concocted by criminals who wanted to cause fear for personal benefit,” Barrett said.
The AFP has identified a number of persons of interest in Australia and abroad and has been working with foreign counterparts, but no foreign state actors are currently suspected of being involved. The Kissinger investigations are ongoing.
Strike Force Pearl, which had been formed in December in response to the wave of crimes targeting the Jewish community in NSW, also had more suspects it wished to apprehend and interview outside of the 29 people it had arrested for plots that included the Newtown and southern Synagogue attacks.
Fourteen of these people were arrested on Monday in a simultaneous raid with the AFP in different locations in NSW.
A 33-year-old Wentworthville man was charged with two counts of intentionally damaging property in the company, larceny, and driving with a disqualified license for his alleged role in a February 2 vandalism spree in King Lane, Randwick, and See Lane, Kingsford.
The suspect was supposedly involved in the spray-painting of multiple vehicles, garages, and walls, including with the slogan “F*** [sic] Jews.”
A suspect in the January 29 vandalism of the Maroubra Jewish day school Mount Sinai College, an Eastgardens shopping center, and an Eastlakes home was arrested in Penshurst.
The 40-year-old allegedly scrawled phrases such as, “Jew dogs” and “Jews are the real terrorists.” He was charged with driving a vehicle with a suspended license, taking and driving a vehicle without an owner’s consent, resisting police officers, failing to comply with law enforcement, and giving false information.
Two men were arrested in connection with the October arson of the kosher Lewis’ Continental Kitchen. A 41-year-old was charged with destroying property as part of criminal group activity. The younger man was charged with accessory to destroying property using fire before the fact and commissioning arson attacks in Bondi Beach.
Three days before the kosher eatery arson, the similarly named Curly Lewis Brewing Co. was set on fire. Another four men were arrested in connection to this incident, two of them in January.
A 27-year-old Eastlakes woman was arrested and faced charges, including three counts for possessing prohibited drugs – cannabis, methamphetamines, and prescription medication – and for possession of a prohibited stun device.
Hudson said that as suspects were arrested for earlier incidents, attacks were reduced, and no significant incidents have occurred since February 2.
WHILE THE attacks by the crime ring were not motivated by antisemitism, Hudson emphasized that there were still antisemitic incidents occurring outside the scope of Strike Force Pearl that needed to be investigated and that the danger presented by arson, the presence of explosives, and the pain of the Jewish community was very real.
Barrett also denounced the blaming of certain communities for their unfounded involvement in these major incidents.
The NSW Jewish Board of Deputies welcomed the day’s arrests in a Monday statement, praising the NSW police and AFP for their efforts and castigating the criminals for taking advantage of the unprecedented levels of antisemitism for personal gain.
“The findings of this investigation should not in any way diminish the summer of fear and anxiety that the Jewish community experienced or the vicious nature of the attacks, which included the attempted arson of synagogues and the firebombing of a childcare center,” said the board.
“Nor should it take away from the record levels of antisemitism experienced over the past 18 months in Australia.”