4 days after Bondi Beach, Australian police carry out dramatic operation as reports suggest possible new plot
Australian police carried out a dramatic operation in a Sydney suburb on Thursday, with heavily armed officers in tactical gear reportedly ramming a car and at least briefly arresting several men amid ongoing violence. investigation into Sunday’s terrorist attack at a Jewish holiday gathering on Bondi Beach in the city.
New South Wales state police said in a statement that two cars were stopped by tactical operations officers in response “to information received that a violent act was possibly planned.”
The operation was carried out in the south-western Sydney suburb of Liverpool, about half an hour’s drive from Bondi Beach. Police said they had “identified no links with current police”. investigation into Bondi terror attack“.
Australian media outlets NewsWire and The Australian said the intercepted men were likely heading to Bondi from the city of Melbourne, almost 550 miles away in Victoria state.
No arrests were announced, although photos from the scene showed men sitting on the ground as officers walked around them. Police said seven men were “assisting police with their inquiries”.
Police said there was no threat to the public and the operation was over.
DAVID GRAY/AFP/Getty
NewsWire cited an anonymous witness to the operation as saying it was “scary to see so many police armed with huge weapons in the area” so soon after the Bondi attack.
While police said there was no immediate link to the Bondi Beach shooting, Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said on Thursday morning that more raids were expected following the terror attack, in which two gunmen killed 15 people attending a celebration marking the first day of Hanukkah.
“In the coming days, the NSW Joint Counter Terrorism Team will execute further search warrants to support our investigation. There is a lot of material to review, and the AFP continues to work with domestic and international partners to build a more complete picture of the movements and people the alleged perpetrators have been in contact with, in Australia and overseas,” she said.
