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A short drive from where a doomsday prepper trio gunned down two young cops, a bizarre compound hidden deep in thick forest had already spooked locals for months.
The military-style structure in Queensland‘s Condamine State Forest boasts a sophisticated security system, including a 360-degree CCTV monitoring, army-style dongas, camouflage hide huts as well as flags and army trucks.
Considering it lies just 20 minutes from the site of the deadly shootout, where Stacey, Nathaniel and Gareth Train ambushed and killed constables Rachel McCrow and Matthew Arnold, it’s perhaps unsurprising people are concerned.
It even has its own pretend roads, with street signs saying ‘Pioneers’ and ‘First’ roads on one of the poles capped with surveillance cameras.
After Daily Mail Australia photographed the encampment and images were passed to police in the local town of Tara, detectives descended on the property to interview the owner, who had already alarmed the town by driving around in his army truck dressed in camouflage gear.
The property’s front fence bristles with security cameras training on the road and which have a 360 degree rotation capability on the land which looks like a military-style encampment
Owner Jessee Wood (pictured) complained that he was ‘interviewed by police and detectives for a few hours after people have referred to us as being similar minded to the 3 shooters’ and stated ‘we do not share the same ideals’
New Zealand and Australian flags fly from a pole above the row of army dongas which, a manager on the property told DMA, was ‘to accommodate workers’
Jessee Wood had bought the 100 hectare block as a vacant bush block early last year, and within weeks the so-called ‘training camp’ appeared to have sprung up out of nowhere.
Tara residents said the rapid development and its apparent secrecy had set off alarm bells.
The plot, more than twice the size of the Trains’ Wieambilla block, had no existing house and has no development application (DA) for a dwelling.
The Western Downs Regional Council told Daily Mail Australia it ‘is aware of the structures currently located on the site and is in discussion with the landowner about their future use’, but had no current information as to what it’s used for.
When the Mail stopped at the South Road property to inquire about its purpose, a man with a large pitbull dog on a leash emerged to say the army dongas were ‘staff accommodation’ and that the business was ‘security’.
Camouflage army truck on the property which Tara residents said they had seen Jesse Wood drive into town while dressed or camo or army gear
A supervisor (left, with resident pitbull) on the property told DMA that the army dongas were used as accommodation for the workers on the property which even has its own pretend roads (right) with street signs saying ‘Pioneers’ and ‘First’ roads on a surveillance camera pole
The property with the army dongas is just a 20 minute drive through the scrub from the Wieambilla site (above) where prepper conspiracist trio, the Train cop murderers planned and executed their deadly shootout.
The property has a sign saying ‘Elysium Security’, although a global company of the same name offering cyber security, tactical and advanced threat investigation services said it didn’t know Jessee Wood and did not even operate in Australia.
A neighbour said in the wake of the shooting, Wieambilla residents were fearful and while there was no evidence there were firearms on Mr Wood’s property, its apparent military appearance made people ‘scared’.
New Zealand-born Mr Wood bought the property last February for $150,000 and according to his Facebook profile, he is the CEO of Kiwi Guy Enterprises, Kiwi Guy Computers, Hydra Corp Industries and 420 Fanatics, which has a cannabis leaf logo and whose Brisbane shop said it sold tobacco related products.
New Zealand and Australian flags fly from a pole above the donga huts.
Since moving to Tara last year, he had been observed driving the massive truck covered in camouflage paint parked on his property into the town, and wearing camo or army green clothing.
On December 18, local community figure and horse rescuer David Maynard took images of the compound to show police during a memorial for fallen constables McCrow and Arnott, five days after the shooting.
The 100 hectare property had no planning application for the dongas or other structures, said Western Downs Council, which ‘is in discussion with the landowner about their future use’
Jessee Wood (above) said on his Facebook page, after the police raid prompted by DMA’s photos, that ‘we do not share the same ideals’ as the Train trio murderers
Locals in Tara (pictured) have seen Wood drive into town in his camouflage truck which in the wake of the Wieambilla tragedy has spooked some locals about what is happening in the Condamine scrub
Within 24 hours, police raided Mr Wood’s property and he later posted on Facebook that he had been ‘interviewed by police and detectives for a few hours after people have referred to us as being similar minded to the three shooters’.
He wrote: ‘We do not share the same ideals. We do not share the same views. We do not share the same way of life’, and it is not suggested otherwise.
‘These people were MURDERERS. We are not, nor could we ever be,’ Mr Wood wrote.
He has not responded to the Mail’s inquiries about what or who his group represents.
Officer at the impromptu memorial of flowers placed outside Tara police station in the days following the double cop shooting at Wiemabilla, 30km north of the town
Police constables Rachel McCrow (left) and Matthew Arnold (right) were murdered by the Train prepper conspiracy trio, sparking community fears about extremists
On his Facebook page, Mr Wood has posted an image of Alan Dare, the neighbour killed by the Trains when he went to investigate the scene, and the Queensland Police emblem with its motto ‘with honour we serve’.
In another post, from 2020, Mr Wood has featured a hand-drawn Viking-style depiction of a Norse axeman cutting down Englishmen in the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066, when King Harald of Norway sought to seize the English throne.
Writing, ‘I’m getting tired’, Mr Wood’s post attracted comments of support encouraging him to keep on fighting, including one saying ‘Keep fighting for your future my dude. You got this.’
Another said, ‘No quitting, no surrender! Bring life on, for we are ready!’ and a third, possibly posted by his mother saying, ‘You got this son. You don’t realize how strong you are’.
Queensland Police declined to answer questions about their raid on Mr Wood’s property, instead alluding to the possibility the event would be part of the coronial investigation into the murders of constables McCrow and Arnold.
A spokesman confirmed police had received a complaint from Mr Maynard, which was ‘currently under investigation’, but would say nothing further.
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