Terrorism Down Under > Potential Massacre avoided in Australia; drug-using antisemite couple arrested

 

Australia: Cops foil ‘potential mass casualty

event’ against Jewish community, 

say there is ‘no further threat’

Jan 29, 2025 9:30 am By Robert Spencer

Australian police have given no indication as to what kind of attack this was to be, and so its claim that there is “no further threat to the Jewish community” rings hollow. If Islamic jihadis planned this, there are still plenty of them in Australia. The same goes for leftists, and even for resurgent National Socialists.

Australian police foil antisemitic attack involving explosives

by Alasdair Pal and Christine Chen, Reuters, January 29, 2025:

SYDNEY, Jan 29 (Reuters) – Australian police said on Wednesday they had foiled a planned antisemitic attack after discovering a caravan containing explosives, in an escalation of threats against the Jewish community that authorities called terrorism.

The caravan was discovered on Jan. 19 in Dural, a suburb some 36 kms (22 miles) northwest of the centre of Sydney, New South Wales Deputy Police Commissioner David Hudson told a news conference.

“That caravan contained an amount of explosives and some indication that those explosives might be used in some form of antisemitic attack,” he told a news conference.

The threat had been fully contained and there was no further threat to the Jewish community, he added….

This sentence is remarkably emphatic since the previous sentence was remarkably tenuous. 

New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said over 100 officers were investigating the incident, under a joint counter-terrorism operation involving state and federal police.

“This is the discovery of a potential mass casualty event. There is only one way of calling it out, and that is terrorism,” he said….

NSW man allegedly linked to Dural caravan filled with explosives ‘has nothing to do with it’, brother says

Jordyn Beazley, The Guardian

Wed 5 Feb 2025 05.33 GMT

Scott Marshall and his partner, Tammie Farrugia, were named in the search warrant relating to a caravan and are in custody on unrelated charges

The brother of a man allegedly connected to a caravan found laden with explosives in Sydney has said his sibling is “just a normal person, he doesn’t hate anyone”.

Scott Marshall, 36, and his partner, Tammie Farrugia, 34, were named on a police search warrant as part of the investigation into the caravan, which police found on 19 January. Neither have been charged in relation to the explosives in the caravan and the Guardian does not suggest any wrongdoing on their part.

Scott’s brother Stewart Marshall told media outside Liverpool local court on Wednesday that Scott “has nothing to do with it, he’s innocent”. Farrugia’s separate and unrelated matter was heard at the court earlier on Wednesday.

It's not exactly unrelated!

Allegra Spender launches 11th-hour bid to plug ‘gaping hole’ in Labor’s hate crime bill

Read more

The caravan was found in Dural on the outskirts of north-west Sydney laden with Powergel explosives that police estimated were capable of creating a 40-metre blast radius. A note was also found in the caravan containing names of alleged targets, including a Sydney synagogue. No detonator was found.

Scott Marshall is in custody on remand on unrelated drugs and weapons charges which were investigated as part of Strike Force Pearl, the New South Wales police operation dedicated to antisemitism. He has pleaded not guilty and is due before Liverpool local court again on 3 March.

Farrugia is in custody on remand for unrelated matters, an alleged arson and alleged anti-Israel graffiti attack in Woollahra in December. Among the charges, she is accused of participating in a criminal group with at least two others as an accessory before allegedly damaging three homes and a vehicle. Farrugia has not yet entered a plea.

Farrugia’s matter was briefly heard in Liverpool local court on Wednesday. The court heard the NSW director of public prosecutions will be taking over the case from police. The matter has been adjourned to 3 April.

Stewart Marshall told media outside court that Scott had been in custody in isolation and didn’t know about the caravan matter becoming news until several days ago.

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“He’s not allowed to talk to anyone or associate with anyone,” Stewart said.

Farrugia is among at least 11 people who have been charged in relation to a spate of antisemitic vandalism and arson attacks in Sydney over the past two months. This has included the graffiti of two separate synagogues and the firebombing of a childcare centre, which was also graffitied with the words: “F*** the Jews”.

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