Underworld crime gangs believed to be behind caravan packed with explosives, police sources say

Explosives degrade over many years and can become unstable, so the older material remained a risk to anyone who handled it, including the suspects who stored it and those who might have used it. Police said the explosives still had the potential to create a 40-metre blast wave.

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AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw has not described the caravan plot as a terror threat in his public remarks.

NSW Police Deputy Commissioner Dave Hudson told media in January that the caravan was being handled as a potential terror incident when “taken at its highest” and considering the notes and explosives found.

But Hudson repeatedly raised the possibility it was a “set-up” that had been disturbed when a resident in Dural towed the caravan to his property and discovered the explosives inside.

“It is not unusual for certain elements of the criminal fraternity to try and seek assistance by disclosing certain weapons or explosives to police,” Hudson told 2GB’s Ben Fordham on January 30. “That’s certainly something we’re looking at.”

NSW Police believes the caravan had been parked on the roadside in Dural, in north-west Sydney, from December 7. They went to the property and found the caravan on January 19, and NSW Premier Chris Minns was informed the next day. The discovery was revealed by The Daily Telegraph on January 29, and Minns held a press conference that day. Albanese has refused several times to reveal when he was told of the matter.

Several legal sources have told this masthead that some underworld crime figures offered to reveal information about a caravan filled with explosives, or a terror plot, to police in the weeks before the discovery on January 19.

The sources, speaking anonymously to share sensitive details, say at least three criminals were hoping to use the caravan to garner a reduced sentence or to have charges dropped.

The underworld has for decades stashed weapons in hidden locations to use as bargaining chips if they are later captured.

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Criminals turn in weapon caches to police in exchange for a document called a “letter of assistance”, which details how they have helped investigations. The documents are tightly guarded but presented to judges in the hope they will reduce a prison sentence.

One of the inmates, who has claimed to know about the caravan weeks before its discovery by police, is expecting a multi-year sentence for commercial drug supply.

Eleven people have been arrested, and several convicted in court, after a spate of antisemitic attacks that have sent shockwaves through Sydney’s Jewish community, but federal and state police are searching for those who are paying for and ordering the attacks.

The facts about the explosives influenced decisions about the scale of the threat to the community, in contrast to previous cases where agencies have known of a threat but have not been able to locate a perpetrator or bomb.

In a case known as Operation Silves, police arrested two men at Sydney Airport in July 2017 over an alleged plot to bomb an aircraft. Then-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull was briefed on the arrests and went public with the news because of concern about an ongoing threat.

In the discovery of the caravan, NSW Police set up a joint counter-terrorism team with the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation but decided the case did not meet the threshold to justify a public alert.

While early reports named the explosive as Powergel – sold by Orica to the mining industry – authorities cautioned on Friday against using that brand name to describe the material.

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