Sayed Moosawi was one of 14 people arrested on Monday over antisemitic attacks that terrorised Sydney.
Sayed Moosawi was one of 14 people arrested on Monday over antisemitic attacks that terrorised Sydney.
By Perry Duffin, Penry Buckley, Max Maddison and Sally Rawsthorne
Updated March 11, 2025 — 11.39amfirst published at 7.22am
An alleged bikie boss is one of 14 people accused of varying roles in antisemitic attacks that terrorised Sydney on behalf of organised crime bosses, including arson, hateful graffiti and even a fabricated caravan bomb plot.
Former Nomads chapter president Sayed Moosawi allegedly directed two arson attacks on Bondi businesses, which had been previously linked to a shadowy organiser calling himself “James Bond”.
On Monday, officers from NSW Police and the Australian Federal Police said a caravan discovered containing explosives in Dural in Sydney’s west and 14 other antisemitic attacks across Sydney’s east were a “con job” fabricated by organised criminals trying to either distract police or influence a prosecution.
The shock revelation came as 200 federal and NSW Police swept across the city at dawn, arresting 14 people and laying dozens of charges. Strike Force Pearl detectives have arrested 29 people and laid a total of 143 charges over antisemitic attacks in Sydney.
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Moosawi, 34, did not face Waverley Local Court over his alleged involvement in two Bondi arson attacks when his matter was briefly mentioned on Tuesday.
He is charged with knowingly directing the activities of a criminal group, whose activities were organised and ongoing, and accessory to destroying property by fire, court documents say.
The documents claim Moosawi directed Guy Finnegan and Craig Bantoft, who set fire to Curly Lewis brewery and bar in mid-October in a botched arson attack.
Finnegan and Bantoft, who later pleaded guilty, were being directed by a man identified on an encrypted messaging app only as “James Bond”.
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Court documents from their case reveal the pair believed “James Bond” had sent them to the wrong address.
Despite the fuel poured in the entryway of the Campbell Parade business, it self-extinguished in about a minute but caused $65,000 worth of damage.
“Use [sic] f—ed the whole thing now If use [sic] f—ing couldn’t do it from the start then why did use [sic] even went there for f— me It’s not even 2% burned f— me dead,” Bond wrote to Guy Finnegan the day after a botched fire.
The next day Bantoft texted Finnegan asking: “So what now… So is he paying or nah[?]”
Later in conversation, Finnegan texted: “Was it the right place, what was damaged[?]
“I’m starting to think he has sent us to the wrong place LoL.”
Police on Monday would not confirm whether they had arrested the person behind the Bond moniker.
Days later, between 2.30 and 4.30am on October 20, Moosawi allegedly damaged Lewis Continental Kitchen on Curlewis Street with fire, according to court documents.
Two other men are before the courts accused of carrying out that second Bondi arson attack.
The charges laid
- Nicholas Alexander, 31, was arrested at Camperdown for allegedly preparing and staging cars for the attacks. He was refused bail until April.
- Two men were arrested on the Central Coast – Zac Hall,18, from San Remo and Ryan Hughes, 20, from Canton Beach. Police allege the pair provided vehicles for an arson attack on a childcare centre in Maroubra on January 21 that did more than $3 million damage. Both have been bailed.
- Henry Masivoivoi, 33, was arrested at Wentworthville over allegedly spray painting cars and homes in Kingsford on February 2. He has been refused bail.
- Ford Powell, 25, was arrested at a Box Hill home for allegedly spray painting cars and homes at Queens Park on January 11 and charged with participate criminal group, contribute criminal activity, destroy/damage property intend criminal activity of group¸ drive conveyance taken without consent of owner. He is bail refused.
- Mohammed Hijazi, 40, and a second man, 30, were arrested at a Penshurst home and taken to Kogarah Police Station. Police will allege in court that Hijazi graffitied a home and a school at Maroubra, a shopping centre at Eastgardens, and a home at Eastlakes. He has been refused bail. The younger man was charged with possess or use a prohibited weapon without permit and possess prohibited drug. Police will allege in court that an electronic stun device and steroids were seized during the warrant at the Penshurst property. He was bailed.
- A 26-year-old man, arrested at Wentworth Point, was charged with prohibited drugs, proceeds of crime, possess encrypted device to commit serious criminal activity and failing to grant police access to his phone. He was bailed by police.
- Anthony Tannous, 23, and a second man, 37, were arrested after being transferred from a prison. Tannous allegedly spray painted homes and cars at Queens Park in the January 11 attacks and was refused bail. He was charged with participate criminal group, contribute criminal activity, destroy/damage property intend criminal activity of group¸ drive conveyance taken without consent of owner, as well supply prohibited drug – indictable and possess prohibited drug after testosterone and methamphetamine were allegedly found in his home. He is bail refused and will next face Waverly Court with Powell on March 25.The older man was charged for weapons possession and for being an accessory in the Maroubra child care centre arson attack.
- Two more prisoners were arrested including former Nomads bikie boss Sayed Moosawi, 34, who allegedly directed arson attacks at Bondi Beach. The second man, 41, allegedly broke into a Bondi business on October 20, 2024 and set it alight. Both remain in custody.
- Cassie Crowder, 26, was charged at Sutherland with being part of a criminal group. The drug methamphetamine and prescription medications were seized during the search of a vehicle at Sutherland and a warrant at a Campbelltown property.
- A 27-year-old woman was also charged over drugs at an Eastlake home.
Outside court, Moosawi’s lawyer said his client denied any involvement in both arson attacks and would fight the charges.
NSW Premier Chris Minns insisted on Tuesday the attacks across Sydney had “unleashed terror” in the Jewish community. Speaking to Ben Fordham on 2GB, Minns said despite the revelation of fabrication of the incidents, “the terror and fear that was struck by these individuals was real”.
“It still happened, and it was appalling for the community, particularly the Jewish community in NSW.”
Later on Tuesday, Minns rejected suggestions he acted incorrectly by rushing out to label the Dural discovery a possible mass casualty event despite scepticism among the Australian Federal Police.
But Minns refused to specify exactly when he was briefed that the caravan was an organised crime plot, only saying it would not have been a “definitive declaration”.
“I can’t tell you the exact dates of when I was briefed other than to say I was briefed three times a week about these investigations for months,” he told reporters.
A woman picked up by Strike Force Pearl also fronted court in an unsuccessful bail application on Tuesday.
Cassie Crowder, 26, was attending Sutherland Local Court on Monday for unrelated drug charges when investigators arrested her outside the courthouse.
At the same time, counter-terror detectives were searching her parents’ Campbelltown home, leading the former Georges River College student to be charged with a slew of offences including participating in a criminal group, drug supply and drug possession.
Strike Force Pearl investigators will allege that she hired a car in the second week of January that was later used in an antisemitic graffiti attack in Maroubra later that month.
Crowder’s solicitor, Nicholas Digges, said that the methylamphetamine-addicted young woman had an innocent explanation.
“It’s simply around 6, 7, 8 [January] that she’s involved in hiring the motor vehicle – at that time she wanted a car for her birthday weekend to be able to get around,” he said.
“She wanted some wheels for her birthday, as she puts it.”
Another person picked up by Strike Force Pearl investigators, Mohamad Hijazi, was on Monday charged with being in possession of that car, a hire Kia Sonic, on the date of the Maroubra graffiti attack.
Hijazi was also charged with participating in a criminal group, driving while disqualified, failing to comply with a digital evidence access order and resisting police, and was refused bail to appear in the Downing Centre this month.
A police prosecutor who refused to provide his name to media told the court: “Criminal groups would not be able to facilitate their criminal activities without persons such as these. The principle offences with which we are dealing are heinous act of vandalism directly targeted at minority groups in the Australian community.”
The co-chief executive officer of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Alex Ryvchin said he did not believe Jewish Australians were safer than previously thought after the police revelations.
Ryvchin’s former Dover Heights home was targeted during the series of antisemitic attacks.
“Ultimately, the things that we’ve seen took place, they weren’t hoaxes. Individuals in our country saw fit to pack a caravan with 40kg of explosives,” he told ABC Radio National.
Others remain before the courts, including Tammie Farrugia, her partner Scott Marshall, and their friend Simon Nichols, who are alleged to be on the “periphery” of the caravan plot.
None have been charged with terrorism offences.
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Perry Duffin is a crime reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via Twitter or email.
Penry Buckley is a reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.
Max Maddison is a state political reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald.
Sally Rawsthorne is a crime reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via Twitter or email.
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