NSW Police find explosives in caravan in Dural, Sydney: Live updates after attacks on synagogues and Jewish community

A quiet, semi-rural road has been thrust into the international spotlight after a resident found a caravan laden with explosives by the roadside, potentially foiling an anti-Semitic terror plot.

Police swarmed the green, sleepy Derriwong Rd in Dural, about 45 minutes northwest of Sydney’s city centre, after the caravan was reported to authorities on January 19.

The media pack also descended on the usually tranquil street on Thursday after news broke the previous evening of the alarming find, which included a list of Jewish-linked sites.

Robert, the owner of a property near where the caravan had been parked, categorically denied that either he or his tenants – two elderly women – had anything to do with the potential terror plot.

The women had lived at the house for 20 and five years respectively, he said.

‘(The caravan) was never, ever on the property, it was up the road,” said Robert, who declined to give his last name.

‘The implication (is) that explosives, detonators were kept on the property.

‘They weren’t, they were in the caravan that has no relation to us.”

Grady, another local resident who did not want to give his full name, said he saw scores of police on the neighbouring property on January 21, but he didn’t think about it again until he saw news on Wednesday night of the explosives being discovered.

He had no recollection of seeing the caravan, adding that people parked all kinds of vehicles on the road quite regularly.

A joint counter-terrorism investigation has been launched involving 100 officers from state and federal agencies.

Police appeal for information from anyone who saw the caravan sitting by the side of the road for a six-week period, starting from December 7.

The vehicle contained enough Powergel explosive – typically used on mining sites – to create a 40 metre-wide blast, authorities said.

Its registered owner was already in custody before the explosives were discovered on unrelated charges stemming from previous investigations into a spate of anti-Semitic attacks.

Robert said he had driven past the vehicle a number of times and thought nothing of it.

‘I’ve passed it two or three times … I didn’t know why it was sitting there,” he said.

‘Someone pulls up outside your house with some explosives – would you be frightened?’

Local federal MP Julian Leeser was also at the scene on Thursday morning and called for anyone who could help with the investigation to speak out.

‘To see these daily attacks on the Jewish community, on its institutions, on its childcare centres, on schools, on its synagogues, is something that people in the Jewish community are angry about,’ he said.

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb has confirmed that the owner of the caravan is ‘a person that is in custody on unrelated matters’.

‘I don’t want to speculate too much more, but it’s important that the public understands that not only has the caravan been removed and the contents removed from harm from the public, but also the owner is out of play and in custody.

‘So the risk to the public has been mitigated very early on.

‘Whilst the explosive material was found in that caravan, there was no detonator with the caravan,’ Comm Webb added.

‘We are doing everything possible. We are not leaving a stone unturned in this matter.’

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has branded the government’s handling of the anti-Semitism crisis a ‘national disgrace’.

‘Had this terrorist attack taken place, if the reports are correct around the 40m blast zone, this would have been the most significant terrorist attack and loss of life in our country’s history,’ Mr Dutton told reporters in Alice Springs.

The Coalition leader was later asked what he thought about accusations that he was ‘politicising’ the issue of anti-Semitism ahead of the federal election.

‘No, I think when we’ve had a terrorist attack that’s just been thwarted that had the potential to kill hundreds of people and blow up a synagogue and other Jewish interests, I don’t think it’s politicsing it to talk about I,’ he responded.

Mr Dutton said he had spoken to Jewish people who were ‘completely disgusted with the Prime Minister’s inaction’.

‘This hasn’t happened just overnight. You see, it’s escalated.,’ he said.

Mr Dutton said he wrote to the Prime Minister requesting that he convene a national cabinet on anti-Semitism after a pro-Palestine protest on the steps of the Sydney Opera House turned ugly in October 2023.

‘The Prime Minister ignored that and… has for his own political purposes, sadly and tragically, decided to put the votes of Green supporters ahead of people in the Jewish community and in regional areas,’ he said.

‘When we saw the spray painting of cars and of houses, did we think it was going to stop there? No.

‘When you then see the bombing of a synagogue, did we think that it was going to stop there? No

‘When we saw the bombing or the attack on a childcare center, did we think it was going to stop there? No

‘And are we surprised that these people now with no red lines having masqueraded as protesters when really they’re just racist bigots who have been protesting on university campuses for months without the Prime Minister doing anything, should we act surprised that this has escalated now to an attempted terrorist attack?

It’s clearly designed to harm people, but it’s also designed to create fear in the community … We remain concerned about this escalation. We’re doing everything that we can, and the fact that people are being detained, arrested, charged, kept in the clink without bail indicates that that’s the case. – Prime Minister Anthony Albanese

It’s devastating and it’s shocking. Already people were living in fear in the Jewish community. Armed guards already patrol outside Jewish schools … This is in our country in the 21st century and it’s completely unacceptable. – Opposition Leader Peter Dutton

The feelings in the Jewish community are not only one of understandable concern and anxiety because of the repeated nature of these attacks, but increasingly one of anger, and I think it’s an anger that is shared more widely by a very large number of Australians who have had a gutful of these events. They bring shame on our country. They demean us as a nation. – Peter Wertheim, Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive

There are some terrible people in our community, I’m ashamed to say it, but that’s the truth. Bad morals, bad ethics, bad people will commit these acts, but Australians stand united against this appalling racism. Most Australians, from every background, regard this kind of hate-filled activity as the opposite of what it means to live in our country and our community in Australia in 2025. – NSW Premier Chris Minns

Thankfully, this incident was foiled, but what lies behind it is sickening, and that there was an attempt to pursue an event of this kind is really appalling. There is no place for this kind of activity in Australia. – Defence Minister Richard Marles

The time for half measures is over. We need to throw the book at anyone and everyone who is engaged in anti-Semitic attacks, and we need to improve and increase the security that is provided to the Jewish community … Because this isn’t just an attack on the Jewish community, it is an attack on our Australian way of life. – Liberal MP for Berowra Julian Leeser, whose electorate includes the location the van was discovered

Three days after the caravan was found in Dural, the terrorism squad ‘barged down the doors,’ of a neighbouring property, its owner says.

Robert, who owns the property on Derriwong Road, said about 20 police smashed through the doors on January 21.

‘They said this house was linked to the caravan.’

Robert doesn’t live at the property, which is tenanted by his disabled son and two elderly women.

He claims the search warrants included the names Tammie Farrugia and Scott Marshall, the couple arrested on the ‘periphery’ of the suspected anti-Semitic terror plot.

Farrugia has been charged over an anti-Semitic attack in Woollahra in December, while Marshall has been charged over separate offences – neither have been charged over the caravan incident.

Robert said the pair had never lived at the house and police must have had the wrong address.

NSW Premier Chris Minns has responded to the latest anti-Semitic graffiti attack in Sydney’s east this morning.

‘It tells you everything you need to know about how appalling these bastards are that they would rip apart a school, on one of the first days of school, with a racist anti-Semitic attack,’ Mr Minns said.

‘It is antithetical to everything that Australia represents in 2025.

‘There are some terrible people in our community – I’m ashamed to say it, but that’s the truth.’

The premier also spoke about the explosives-laden caravan found earlier this month – defending a police decision to keep the public in the dark for more than a week before the story was leaked to the media.

‘Police made operational decisions in order to keep the public safe, to arrest those responsible for these terrible alleged acts and to ensure that a full investigation can take place,’ he told 2GB.

The deputy commissioner was asked about how the caravan information became public during a press conference on Thursday morning.

The explosives discovered in the caravan on January 19 had the potential to cause a mass casualty event, but police stayed tight-lipped for more than a week.

He said the information was leaked to the media on Wednesday and NSW Police was ‘not happy’ about the leaks.

‘There’s a number of agencies involved in relation to this investigation who were privy to the same investigation,’ Dep Comm Hudson said.

‘We will re-strategise in relation to what activities we can pursue in an investigative sense based on media reporting and what’s known, and we will continue to try to find those responsible.’

The NSW Police and NSW Government’s decision to keep the Jewish community in the dark has been criticised by one of Australia’s leading Jewish organisations.

Peter Wertheim, co-chief executive officer of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, said he was disappointed that the police didn’t inform Jewish groups about the existence of a caravan full of explosives.

The caravan’s discovery on January 19 was leaked to the media on Wednesday.

‘I think they should have told us earlier, before it hit the media, because the impact on the community then could have been managed,’ he said.

‘It’s always better to face your fears when you understand what you’re facing, rather than to be presented with something out of the blue.

‘And so whilst there might have been some justification for secrecy in the initial stage of the investigation, I think that time had long passed.’

It is understood the ‘periphery’ arrests were that of Tammie Farrugia, charged last week over an alleged anti-Semitic attack at Woollahra in December.

And the other arrest was Farrugia’s boyfriend Scott Marshall, who was charged late last year with weapons and drug offences to which he has pleaded not guilty.

The couple had posted on Facebook just last month asking to buy a caravan.

On December 6, Tammie Farrugia tagged her boyfriend, Scott Marshall, in a post that read: ‘Looking for a caravan for sale hit me up if U have one cheers’.

The arrests were made in relation to separate incidents, not the caravan – and as of Thursday morning Neither Farrugia or Marshall have been charged. There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing.

The caravan’s owner is in police custody after they were arrested previously over other alleged offences.