Dural caravan as it happened: Police under pressure to make arrests; Jewish community believes ‘puppet masters’ still at large

Pressure is mounting on NSW Police to make arrests over an apparent plot to target a Sydney synagogue with stolen mining explosives as the number of antisemitic attacks across the city grows.

But authorities are defending the decision to keep the potential threat to the community secret for 10 days, despite criticism from Jewish groups and leaders.

Here’s everything you need to know as we wrap up our coverage for the night:

• A Dural local discovered and moved an abandoned caravan left on Derriwong Road on January 19. When the local looked inside and discovered explosives, they called police.
• Inside the caravan police found a note with the address of a Sydney synagogue.
• The amount of Powergel explosives discovered could create a 40-metre blast wave, police said. The explosives were believed to have been stolen from a mining site.
• More than 100 police officers have been assigned to the investigation.
• Police have arrested several people over recent antisemitic attacks across Sydney under Strike Force Pearl, but none over the explosives.
• Police believe the apparent plot is linked to the “orchestrated” attacks being directed by people above the alleged perpetrators arrested so far. Jewish groups believe the “puppet masters” behind the violence are yet to be apprehended.
• Both police and the state government have defended their decision to stay quiet on the investigation, despite criticism from the Jewish community.
• Police Commissioner Karen Webb said the caravan investigation had been “compromised” when details were leaked to the media, triggering a succession of scrambled police and government press conferences.
• Two people arrested “on the periphery” of this investigation, Tammie Farrugia and her partner Scott Marshall, had already been arrested under Strike Force Pearl. A third person was allegedly named on a police warrant alongside the couple. None of these three people have been charged over the explosives.
• The owner of the caravan is in police custody, but has not been charged in relation to this incident. He was previously arrested for other alleged offending, police said.
• Prime Minister Anthony Albanese labelled the perpetrators of antisemitic attacks “cowards” who would be “hunted down and locked up” as he defended his government’s handling of the matter. Albanese has faced calls from the Coalition to reveal when he was briefed on the caravan investigation, and why details of the suspected terror plot were not made public.

Thank you for joining our coverage today. You can read our full story on the fallout here.

Children from Jewish schools cover the emblem on their blazers, with many no longer travelling to class by bus.

Their fearful parents drive them instead, and on days when worry is highest, some children are kept at home.

Rabbi Rafi Kaiserblueth says Australia is a welcoming place.Credit: Janie Barrett

As threats to Sydney’s Jewish community escalate, Rabbi Benjamin Elton from The Great Synagogue has been advised to vary his daily route between home and work.

He won’t be cowed by shadowy criminals, but this is a sensible precaution. He has a wife and children to think about.

“You’re nervous going to sleep, nervous waking up, nervous checking your phone,” says Elton. “That’s what it means to be psychologically terrorising a whole community.”

Read Herald chief reporter Jordan Baker’s full story on the impact the recent spate of antisemitic violence has had on the Jewish community here.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has branded the perpetrators of antisemitic attacks “cowards” who will be “hunted down and locked up”, as Israel’s foreign minister accused Australian authorities of allowing attacks on Jews to run rampant.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pictured last week.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

While police probed the discovery of a caravan packed with explosives and containing the address of a Sydney synagogue, the federal government’s special envoy on antisemitism, Jillian Segal, declared the finding of the vehicle a chilling reminder of the hatred that led to the Holocaust.

“There’s zero tolerance in Australia for hatred and for antisemitism, and I want any perpetrators to be hunted down and locked up - it’s as simple as that,” Albanese said on Thursday as he defended his government’s handling of antisemitism.

You can read the full piece by Matthew Knott here.

A woman who identified herself as a friend of Scott Marshall has painted a grim picture of the man who was the subject of police raids following the discovery a caravan packed with explosives.

The woman, who did not want to be named for safety reasons, described Marshall as someone who had struggled with his finances and had spent a lot of his time looking after his mother. She had last seen him on November 15.

Scott Marshall and Tammie Farrugia.Credit: TikTok

“They’re living in housing commission, they’re not rich,” she said.

“Scotty would ring me up for $20 on an average day. We take them food and blankets.”

When it came to his political motivation, she said he had never spoken about Israel.

“He and Tammie are not the sharpest tools, but I love them.

“He does not paint the picture of a terrorist to me … He’s not a protesting type, he’s not against Palestine or Islam or Israel.”

Another person, who also did not wish to be named for safety reasons, described Tammie Farrugia, who was also targeted by police in raids, as “a follower”.

“She’s a follower, there’s no way she’s anything but a follower … she’s not spending her time thinking about this stuff.”

The cache of stolen explosives left in a dumped caravan in Sydney’s north-west alongside the name of a Sydney synagogue was so powerful it could have caused a 40-metre blast radius.

So powerful are the Powergel explosives, believed to have been stolen from a mine site, that Premier Chris Minns described their detonation as a potential “mass-casualty event”.

Dozens of Powergel-branded products are listed by SafeWork NSW as authorised explosives. The explosive typically has a putty-like consistency and is packaged in film.

Read more about Powergel here.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has apologised for appearing to downplay the Jewish community’s concerns about antisemitism by saying their fears are “not always unfounded”.

In an interview on Thursday morning on Channel Nine’s Today show, Chalmers described the discovery of a caravan in Sydney packed with explosives and containing the address of a synagogue as a “chilling course of events” that was “deeply troubling” and “unsettling”.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

He added that what the incident “shows is that the fears in the Jewish community are not always unfounded when it comes to the potential for these kinds of violent acts”.

He said in a separate interview on ABC radio that the Jewish community’s fears were “not always unfounded”.

His comments caused immediate offence among some members of the Jewish community, who felt he was suggesting their concerns about antisemitism had sometimes been overblown.

“I’ve had that relayed to me and I apologise,” Chalmers said.

“My intention was to share and acknowledge the very real and understandable fears and concerns in the Jewish community in light of recent events.

“I could have and should have expressed that more clearly, and I’m sorry I didn’t.”

The Albanese government’s special envoy on antisemitism, Jillian Segal, has described the discovery of a caravan packed with explosives and containing the address of a synagogue as a “chilling reminder that the same hatred that led to the murder of millions of Jews during the Holocaust still exists today”.

Australia’s Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, Jillian Segal.Credit: Nick Moir

Segal, who is returning to Australia from commemorations in Poland for the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, said: “The discovery in Sydney will only heighten the fear and anxiety within the Jewish community.

“With weekly protests marked by antisemitism, along with threats to property and attacks on places of worship, today’s events are yet another escalation. This hatred must stop.”

The premier, prime minister and police must convince the Jewish community that secrecy was necessary as it investigated who was behind the explosive-laden caravan, writes state polical editor Alexandra Smith:

NSW Premier Chris Minns has shown strong leadership as antisemitism has swept across his city, reassuring a shaken Jewish community that he will never abandon them.

NSW Premier Chris Minns condemns “bastards” behind the latest graffiti attack on Thursday morning.Credit: Nick Moir

In turn, the Jewish community has been grateful, watching on as homes, cars and childcare centres are firebombed, antisemitic bile is splashed across public places and hundreds of police are patrolling their streets in a constant reminder that violence is always lurking.

However, that goodwill to Minns, which is not extended to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, could evaporate if the premier, and his police force, cannot convince the Jewish community that it had to be kept in the dark over the discovery of an explosive-laden caravan that had the potential to cause mass casualties. There was a note inside with details of a Sydney synagogue.

The only reason the details of the caravan, abandoned for six weeks in the semi-rural Sydney suburb of Dural, emerged and were confirmed on Wednesday was because the Daily Telegraph had been leaked the details. At that point, the government and police had to jump.

You can read her full analysis here.

And just before we told you ASIO General Secretary Mike Burgess has released a statement ruling out changing the national threat level from probable, arguing that the level was raised last August because they anticipated spikes in politically motivated violence. Here is the statement in full:

ASIO is monitoring and, in conjunction with our law enforcement partners, investigating multiple anti-Semitic incidents in Australia.

We have seen a disturbing escalation in the targeting of Jewish interests, and a disturbing escalation in the severity and recklessness of the targeting, with general harassment and intimidation moving to the targeting of people and places.

These incidents are appalling, and particularly distressing for the Jewish community.

While ASIO keeps the national terrorism threat level under constant review, I do not anticipate changing the threat level from PROBABLE in the immediate future.

One of the key reasons we raised the threat level in August 2024 was because we anticipated spikes in politically motivated violence. Unfortunately, the security environment has evolved almost exactly as we expected. As I said at that time: “As polarisation, frustration and perceived injustices grow, ASIO anticipates an increase in politically motivated violence – including terrorism – across all ideological spectrums.”

PROBABLE means probable – we assess there is a greater than 50 per cent chance of a domestic terrorist attack or attack planning in the next 12 months.

The current terrorism threat level is the same as it was at the height of the Islamic State caliphate.

While the caravan matter in New South Wales remains under police investigation, ASIO does not believe there is an ongoing threat to public safety.

I understand how distressing these incidents are, and want to assure members of the community ASIO is using the full range of its capabilities to assist multiple police investigations, including through the well-established structures of Joint Counter Terrorism Teams around the country.

I urge anyone with concerns about potential terrorist activity to contact the National Security Hotline on 1800 123 400 or [e-mail]. In an emergency, call 000.

Security is a shared responsibility – even more so at a time such as this.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has again refused to answer questions on when he was briefed about the caravan filled with explosives.

Despite Premier Chris Minns confirming he was informed of the police operation on January 20, Albanese dodged questions about when he knew and whether national cabinet discussed the matter when it sat on January 21.

“What I do is I don’t comment on operational matters,” he said. “There are two issues that are my priority. The first is making sure that people are kept safe. The second, which is related to that, is making sure that any investigations aren’t undermined and that the police and national security agencies are able to do their work.

“I get ongoing briefings every day, I get a national security briefing and indeed just this morning we had a full meeting of the National Security Committee.”

Asked if national cabinet discussed the incident, Albanese refused to answer.

“I repeat, I don’t intend to go through operational matters, nor do we go through the detail of what’s discussed at cabinet meetings, or national cabinet meetings, or National Security Committee meetings,” he said.

In response to earlier remarks from Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, Albanese steered away from hitting back at the Liberal leader.

“This is a time for unity and for the country to come together against these atrocities and this appalling act. Not a time to look for political partisanship or to make political points. I don’t intend to do so,” he said.