Police say their investigation into the discovery of a caravan packed with explosives for a potential antisemitic attack has been compromised by the leak of the information.

The caravan – containing enough explosives for a 40-metre wide blast and notes of the addresses of Jewish people and institutions – was found on a semi-rural road in Dural, north-west of Sydney on January 19.

It was reported to authorities after being abandoned for 12 days, sparking a massive multi-agency probe with more than 100 counter-terrorism investigators.

The explosives in the abandoned caravan are believed to have come from a mining site.

Police said on Wednesday arrests had been made on the “periphery”, with some connected to other alleged antisemitic attacks.

On Thursday, it emerged the arrests included the owner of the caravan, who is in custody as part of investigations into recent antisemitic vandalism.

The caravan owner has not been charged.

Two other people have been named as part of investigations into the explosives-laden caravan.

The ABC reports that Tammie Farrugia and Scott Marshall were allegedly named in a search warrant used by police investigating the discovery at Dural.

Farrugia, who is in custody, was charged last week over a separate alleged antisemitic attack at Woollahra in December.

Marshall is reportedly in custody on unrelated weapons and drug charges.

Neither have been charged in relation to the bomb discovery.

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 on Thursday.

“[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.”

Also on Thursday, NSW Premier Chris Minns confirmed the van’s owner was among those already in custody as part of special operations cracking down on the spate of antisemitic vandalism.

“I want the public to rest assured that, firstly, the caravan is in police custody,” he told ABC TV on Thursday morning.

“Secondly, as has been reported in the media, the owner of the van is in police custody as well, and inquiries continue and nothing will stop until NSW Police have arrested those who are responsible for this.”

The discovery of the van and subsequent investigation was kept secret for 10 days. Minns said he was briefed on January 20 and the information remained “clandestine” for operational purposes.

“I don’t want the public to believe that anyone was twiddling their thumbs over the last 10 days – the exact opposite is the case,” he told Sky News.

It was easy for some politicians to demand the information be released immediately, especially with the federal election looming, Minns said.

“I would just urge everybody to let NSW Police conduct these investigations,” he said.

“The stakes couldn’t be higher. Politics can wait for another day.”

The revelation of an apparent discovery in NSW of a caravan laden with explosives intended for a synagogue is as sickening as it is horrifying. It is a grave and sinister escalation in this insidious rise of unchecked antisemitism in our country.

— Peter Dutton (@PeterDutton_MP) January 29, 2025

On Thursday, police confirmed the caravan discovery became public only because of a leak.

NSW Police Deputy Commissioner David Hudson said the force was “not happy about that information being leaked” and the incident becoming public had “compromised our investigation”.

“There’s a number of agencies involved in relation to this investigation who were privy to the same investigation,” he 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.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese joined the chorus of politicians to condemn the wanted culprits and didn’t quibble with Minns’ description of the incident as an act of terrorism.

“It’s clearly designed to harm people, but it’s also designed to create fear in the community, and that is a very definition,” he told ABC Radio Sydney.

Later, Albanese told the media this was not a time to score political points.

“This is a time for unity and for the country to come together against these atrocities and this appalling act.

“I intend to do my job, which is to work with the police and national security agencies.

“We want people hunted down and put in the clink. That is what we want.”

Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar described the recent antisemitic attacks in Australia as an “epidemic”.

“The epidemic of antisemitism is spreading in Australia almost unchecked,” he posted to X. 

“We expect the Australian government to do more to stop this disease!

Local Jewish groups have also expressed concern, with the Zionist Federation of Australia calling it a manifestation of intolerance towards Jews and the most severe threat to the Jewish community in Australia to date.

Cars have been set alight, a synagogue burnt down and anti-Semitic slurs painted on buildings and cars in a spate of attacks that have escalated in frequency and severity since December. Hudson said the caravan discovery was an “escalation”.

On Thursday morning, there was further distress for the Jewish community when antisemitic graffiti was discovered on a school in Maroubra.

“Grotesque” slurs were sprayed on walls at Mount Sinai College and a nearby property, according to media reports.

Jewish Board of Deputies president David Ossip told The Daily Telegraph it was “sickening” that school children would have to walk past the “repellent hate speech” on their way into school.

Liberal MP Julian Leeser called for more patrols and armed guards outside Jewish community institutions.

Leeser, who holds the electorate of Berowra, where the bombs were found, acknowledged patrols had been boosted but said that wasn’t enough.

“I think there clearly needs to be more patrols, there clearly needs to be more 24/7 people, armed guards and the like stationed outside community institutions and in the major centres of community life, I think we’ve got to that point at the moment,” he said.

-with AAP