5 hours ago
1
Federal police say a caravan found in Sydney earlier this year was “never going to cause a mass casualty event” and was a “fake terrorism plot”.
The Australian federal police deputy commissioner Krissy Barrett said on Monday investigators now believed the caravan incident was concocted by criminals who wanted to cause fear for personal benefit.
“We are now confident these tip-offs were fabricated and the caravan plot was an elaborate scheme contrived by organised criminals domestically and from offshore,” Barrett said.
“This twisted self-serving criminality has terrorised Australians. What organised crime has [allegedly] done to the Jewish community is reprehensible and it won’t go without consequences.”
The AFP deputy commissioner said too many alleged offenders working in the “criminal gig economy” were accepting tasks for money.
The NSW police deputy commissioner David Hudson said Strike Force Pearl officers conducted 11 search warrants on Monday and arrested a further 14 people as part of their investigations into antisemitic attacks across Sydney. None of those arrested were directly linked to the “caravan job”, he said.
The deputy commissioner said “organised crime elements” were behind the attacks to “further their own causes”. None of those arrested had displayed any antisemitic ideology, Hudson alleged.
The same person or persons was pulling the strings for both the antisemitic attacks and the caravan incident to divert police resources so they could continue their criminal activity more easily, Huson alleged.
The “caravan job” could have been devised as a plan for someone to receive a reduced sentence by supplying information about a potential threat, police suggested.
A couple allegedly named on a police warrant as part of the investigation into the caravan was previously charged in relation to a separate alleged arson and graffiti attack in Sydney’s east.
NSW police in mid-February charged Scott Marshall, 36, over an incident in Woollahra on 11 December last year when an allegedly stolen car was set alight and anti-Israel graffiti was painted on cars, buildings and a footpath.
after newsletter promotion
Marshall’s partner, Tammie Farrugia, 34, was charged in mid-January in relation to the Woollahra incident. She was accused of participating in a criminal group and damaging property.
Marshall was arrested in Parklea prison last month – where he was being held on remand on unrelated charges – and charged with allegedly participating in a criminal group to contribute to criminal activity; destroying or damaging property as an accessory before the fact; and taking and driving a vehicle without the consent of the owner.
NSW police allege Marshall and Farrugia were “involved in preparing” the car and jerry cans ahead of the Woollahra attack.
The head of Strike Force Pearl told reporters in mid-February that the alleged “principal offenders” behind the 11 December incident had not been arrested.
Neither Faruggia nor Marshall have been charged in relation to the caravan and Guardian Australia does not suggest any wrongdoing on their part.
