The AFP has publicly provided details about Operation Kissinger, which is an investigation into those responsible for a caravan found with explosives and antisemitic material in Dural on January 19, 2025.
Within hours of the caravan being found, any perceived threat was mitigated, and the investigation was referred to the NSW Joint Counter Terrorism Team (JCTT), which includes the AFP, NSW Police, ASIO and the NSW Crime Commission.
Almost immediately, experienced investigators within the JCTT believed that the caravan was part of a fabricated terrorism plot, essentially a criminal con job.
This was because of the information they already had, how easily the caravan was found and how visible the explosives were. Also, there was no detonator.
“I can reveal that the caravan was never going to cause a mass casualty event but instead was concocted by criminals who wanted to cause fear for personal benefit,” said AFP National Security Deputy Commissioner Krissy Barrett on March 10.
“The JCTT discussed providing this information earlier to the public. However, during our investigations, we continued to receive tip-offs about other terror plots related to this matter,” she added.
“Out of an abundance of caution, it was agreed by all agencies that the operation would remain a JCTT investigation. While we were confident all these tip-offs were fake, we could not risk ignoring the information provided, and we kept investigating at the highest level. We are now confident that all these tip-offs were fabricated, and the caravan plot was an elaborate scheme contrived by organised criminals, domestically and from offshore.”
There were several people who had different levels of involvement in this fake terrorism plot. The plan was the following:
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Organise for someone to buy a caravan;
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Place it with explosives and written material of antisemitic nature;
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Leave it in a specific location; and
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Once that had happened, inform law enforcement about an impending terror attack against Jewish Australians.
“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,” said Barrett.
“However, the plan was foiled. An AFP operational strategy is in place to take action against this individual and I won’t make any further comment on that.”
Several people have been identified as part of this fake terrorism plot, and the AFP is working with local and overseas law enforcement officials in its bid to have all of those responsible brought to justice.
“What organised crime has done to the Jewish community is reprehensible, and it won’t go without consequence. There was also unwarranted suspicion directed at other communities, and that is also reprehensible,” the deputy commissioner said.
“Those creating fake terror threats, including using antisemitism to elicit a desired response from law enforcement or the courts, face being charged for creating fake plots, and unfortunately for them, they will face the full experience, capability and dogged determination of terrorism investigators. This is a rare time that I will provide advice to criminals. Serve your time quietly in prison and stop diverting the resources of terrorism investigators. Otherwise your charges could be significantly upgraded.”
The AFP says many criminals are accused of paying others to carry out antisemitic or terrorism incidents to get our attention or divert resources. And too many offenders working in the criminal gig economy are accepting these tasks for money.
In one example, the AFP will allege a prisoner last year tried to secure high-powered weapons for a fake terror plot so he could provide information to authorities in exchange for a reduction to his drug trafficking sentence.
He was identified after the AFP found evidence of his alleged plan on an encrypted platform. He has been charged and faces a longer term of imprisonment.
The AFP has provided more than 90 members to support this week’s activity. Barrett says more arrests will come.
