He has blown up a love rival's car and survived an attempt on his life. Now Queensland police are investigating whether Newcastle man Daniel Fing was behind something even more sinister: plotting a mass attack on Sydney and his home town.
Inside a Brisbane property, rented by Mr Fing, police have uncovered more than 50 kilograms of explosive materials and crudely drawn maps of Sydney and Newcastle.
One map, drawn on an A4 sheet allegedly contained the words ''George Street'' and uniform. It reportedly references a long-established uniform shop on the busy CBD street. The other map, which has the words ''bridge'', ''brothel'' and ''grave'', could refer to Sandgate on the outskirts of Newcastle, referencing the Sandgate Road bridge that crosses the rail line, Sandgate Cemetery and the brothel A1 Temptations.
Police believe that Mr Fing, 30, was leasing the premises at Pullenvale under another name until he stopped paying rent and left.
A real estate agent recently inspected the premises before contacting police who found a range of chemicals in the house and a nearby shed including DMDT, which was used in the 2005 London bombings, HMDT and TATP, which is the same substance Mr Fing used to firebomb a love rival's car at Belmont in 2006.
Queensland police with the assistance of the Australian Federal Police have been conducting controlled explosions on the property for almost a week to dispose of some of the highly volatile substances.
The Australian Defence Force and private contractors were at the property on Tuesday to continue the search and processing of the substances.
The outer western Brisbane suburb is not the sort of place which normally receives visits from the police or the Defence force bomb squad.
Million-dollar-plus palatial homes on sprawling blocks are the norm in the the leafy suburb about nine kilometres south-west of theCBD .
Mr Fing, who is in custody in NSW for unrelated matters, was jailed in 2006 for four years with a non-parole period of two years for firebombing a rival's car, which was parked in the Belmont McDonald's car park.
A warrant was issued for his arrest several months ago for driving matters before he was arrested and due to face Newcastle Local Court later this month for another unrelated matter.
He was the target of a suspected drive-by shooting in February 2011, when a gunman opened fire hitting Mr Fing in the upper arm and only narrowly missed his heart. His father, Trevor Fing, was released to parole in late 2012 after serving a lengthy jail term for drug and fraud offences.
Trevor Fing lost part of one of his arms and a leg after a car collided with him while he rode a motorbike along Wild Duck Drive, Cams Wharf, on June 3. Police are still searching for the driver of the car.
Daniel Fing was previously convicted in his absence of taking a knife into Cessnock jail when attempting to visit his father before his release in 2012.
