Anti-Jewish plot foiled as caravan of explosives found

A note found inside contained addresses of Jewish people and a synagogue and included the words, "f*** the Jews".

"That caravan contained an amount of explosives and some indication that those explosives might be used in some form of anti-Semitic attack," NSW Police Deputy Commissioner David Hudson said on Wednesday.

David Hudson says arrests have been made in connection to the discovery. (Steven Saphore/AAP PHOTOS)

NSW Police was working with the Australian Federal Police, NSW Crime Commission, ASIO, Victoria Police and the Queensland Police Service to investigate the incident.

There was no ongoing threat to the community, Mr Hudson said.

Police are treating the incident as a credible terror threat and have assigned more than 100 counter-terrorism detectives to investigate those behind the plot, which was discovered on January 19.

Arrests had been made, with some connected to other alleged anti-Semitic attacks, Mr Hudson said.

"We have no information that there are further explosives in our community in relation to conducting anti-Semitic attacks anywhere - we believe that we have contained appropriately this current threat," he said.

Authorities are probing whether the caravan was abandoned strategically to be discovered by police or whether someone was going to disclose the existence of the explosives.

"At this stage, even though it's 10 days on into the investigation, we are still unsure of those circumstances and we are pursuing every one of them," Mr Hudson said.

An aerial view of the area where a caravan full of explosives was found. (Abc News/AAP PHOTOS)

The explosive material is believed to be power gel sourced from a mining site and could have resulted in a significant amount of damage, the deputy commissioner said.

"We believe that through the arrests that have been made on the periphery of this job ... we've mitigated the risk as much as possible at this stage," he said.

"I'm not saying it's been eliminated. I'm saying it's been mitigated."

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese condemned the act, saying the full might of the nation's law enforcement agencies were being used in the counter terror taskforce probe.

"NSW Police have people in custody and continue with other agencies ... to investigate threats, violence and hatred towards the Australian Jewish community and take action and hold people to account for crimes," he said.

"Hate and extremism have no place in Australian society."

Premier Chris Minns says the attack appeared to be a planned act of terrorism. (Steven Saphore/AAP PHOTOS)

NSW Premier Chris Minns, who was briefed on the incident on January 20, promised to throw the state's resources to confront the threat to the community but defended keeping the discovery secret for 10 days. 

"This is the discovery of a potential mass casualty event. There's only one way of calling it out and that is terrorism," he said.

"The vast majority of people in NSW find this behaviour abhorrent, appalling against all of the values and beliefs that we share, and we will defeat them."

Statement from the NSW Premier. — Chris Minns (@ChrisMinnsMP) pic.twitter.com/OxHXuPCJ0mJanuary 29, 2025

The Zionist Federation of Australia described the plot as "the most severe threat to the Jewish community in Australia to date", saying, if executed, would likely have resulted in the worst terrorist attack on Australian soil.

Cars have been set alight, a synagogue burnt down and anti-Semitic slurs painted on buildings and cars in a spate of attacks that have escalated in frequency and severity since December.

"This is certainly an escalation with the use of explosives that have the potential to cause a great deal of damage," the deputy commissioner said.

Federal police have identified that foreign actors recruiting local "criminals for hire" could be behind some of the attacks targeting Jewish communities.