Antisemitic terror plot in Australia was fake and staged by a crime boss, police say

At first glance, when police discovered a camper vehicle packed with explosives and containing a list of Jewish targets near Sydney, Australia on Jan. 19, it appeared that they had foiled an unprecedented antisemitic terror plot.

Indeed, police led the public to believe that’s what had happened, an impression that was maintained for weeks. In a press briefing on Monday, however, police revealed that the supposed terrorist plot was an elaborate hoax, allegedly concocted by an unidentified crime boss as part of an effort to influence his own prosecution.