How suspected ‘terror caravan’ mastermind allegedly tricked cops and fled

Australian Federal Police officers let suspected ‘terror caravan’ mastermind slip through their net after relying on the location of his mobile phone to check his whereabouts.

Australian Federal Police officers let the suspected “terror caravan” mastermind slip through their net after relying on the location of his mobile phone to check his whereabouts.

Sayet Akca, 35, was on bail for an alleged 600kg drug importation in 2023, when he fled the country hidden inside a luxury yacht bound for Indonesia.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal that NSW Police alerted the AFP to the possibility Akca was preparing to flee, but the federal counterparts insisted the gym owner, from Sydney’s Sutherland shire, was inside a Queensland unit where his mobile phone was.

But in one step ahead of authorities, Akca did not take his phone when he boarded the vessel at a port in Cairns, and headed to Indonesia where police believe he bought fake travel documents and made his way to the Middle East.

Alleged "terror caravan" mastermind Sayet Akca, who fled the country while on bail.

“We had the intel he was getting ready to go and we told them (the AFP)... but they were adamant he hadn’t moved,” a senior NSW Police source said.

The Daily Telegraph revealed last week that Akca is the man police suspect is the puppet master behind a fake terror caravan plot and 14 other anti-Semitic attacks across the city since December.

AFP deputy commissioner Krissy Barrett said investigators were confident the person responsible for the reign of fear on the Jewish community did so to leverage personal gain.

“We believe the person pulling the strings wanted changes to their criminal status but maintained a distance from their scheme and hired alleged local criminals to carry out parts of their plan,” Dep-Com Barrett said.

Akca first came to the attention of the AFP in 2021 when he was caught up in the AN0M sting and arrested as part of Operation Ironside.

The married father-of-one was charged with importing a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug and dealing in proceeds of crime.

Akca first came to the attention of the AFP in 2021.

If found guilty of commercial drug importing, Akca could face life in jail. Sources with knowledge of the investigation said he might have been hoping to “win favour” with police and the courts if he appeared to be alerting authorities to a potential terror threat.

“It’s not uncommon for cops to give a letter saying ‘this bloke has helped with a potential terror threat’...and instead of 20 years, you might get five or ten,” a police source said.

Dep-Com Barrett said officers were working with authorities overseas to “take action against this individual”, whose fake plot had had a “chilling effect” on the Jewish community.

“This twisted, self-serving criminality has terrorised Jewish Australians. What organised crime has done to the Jewish community is reprehensible, and it won’t go without consequence,” she said.

Originally published as How suspected ‘terror caravan’ mastermind allegedly tricked cops and fled