A massive police taskforce investigating the alleged firebombing of a Melbourne synagogue have made an arrest, and revealed criminals in an unnamed foreign country are suspected to have been involved.
The Victorian Joint Counter Terrorism Team (JCTT) arrested a 21-year-old man in Werribee on Wednesday morning and and he will be interviewed in relation to the offences of arson, conduct endangering life and motor vehicle theft over the alleged attack on the Adass Israel Synagogue in Ripponlea on December 6.
Police said on Wednesday the attack was the culmination of 50,000 hours of police work carried out by 220 officers from the Victoria and Australian Federal Police and ASIO, and comes after another man, 20, was charged earlier this month for allegedly stealing a car that was then used by the alleged arsonists.
The alleged firebombing was labelled an act of terrorism at the time by police and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who also pledged $30 million for restoration works and $1.2 million for security upgrades in the lead-up to May’s federal election.
The man arrested on Wednesday is not being interviewed over terror offences, but Australian Federal Police Deputy Commissioner Krissy Barrett said in response to a reporter that the investigation had treated the alleged attack as “politically motivated from the beginning” and “no offences were off the table”.
She also stated that police believe criminals overseas were believed to have worked with locals to allegedly attack the synagogue.
“Our investigation is not limited to Australia. It involves exploring criminals offshore, and we suspect these criminals worked with criminal associates in Victoria to carry out the arson attack,” she said.
‘The motivation is still being assessed and we will make further comments at an appropriate time about that.
“We are working closely with our Five Eyes and international partners to ensure our collective powers and capabilities are drawn upon to help bring those responsible to justice.”
When asked who or where the offshore criminal syndicate was operating from, she said: “I won’t go into that detail today for obvious reasons, including investigative strategies that may be in play, but to say it remains one of our operating lines of inquiry.”
“I’m not going to name countries today, just that we are looking at offshore links,” she said again when asked which Five Eyes countries were assisting.
Police also said they could not elaborate on whether the firebombing was linked to Melbourne’s tobacco war, but said the name of Iraqi crime kingpin Kazem Hamad had “come up” during investigations.
The developments come after the AFP and NSW Police revealed earlier this year that an explosive-filled caravan found in Dural, near Sydney, in January and declared an anti-Semitic terror plot by Premier Chris Minns was in fact a hoax orchestrated by criminals overseas.
Both incidents were referenced in calls by Jewish groups for tougher “hate speech” laws, which were subsequently passed federally and in NSW in February and in Victoria in April.
Mr Minns refused to repeal the NSW legislation after the caravan plot was exposed as a hoax, and a parliamentary inquiry is underway into whether he knew there was no threat to the public but pushed the new laws through anyway.
Header image: Left, a man being arrested on Wednesday (JCCT). Right, Anthony Albanese viewing the damaged synagogue (Facebook).
