By AIDAN KNIGHT
VICTORIANS are noticing an alarming trend of bomb-related incidents across the state, with two separate instances of explosive devices found in the Latrobe Valley over the span of four days.
The more recent incident occurred in the afternoon of Monday, June 23, in which a 41-year old Churchill man facing a string of serious offences was on the receiving end of a search warrant at his place of residence.
The man was found to be illegally in possession of multiple firearms of various description, signal jammers, and after further searching, a variety of explosives devices.
The explosives were described by police to be “improvised” in nature, and were “located in a nearby area”, rather than within the house itself.
The area was quickly secured for the Bomb Response Unit to attend and inert the explosives, before the man was remanded for appearance at Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court the next day.
This search was prompted bizarrely, after police were made aware of a video circulating online in which the man was seen holding a gun while dressed in a banana costume. The man was on bail at the time.
The hearing on June 24 heard that the Leading Senior Constable from the Armed Crime Squad who attended the warrant, stated that more than one of the firearms found in the search, while stored legally in the appropriate style gunsafe, did not possess a serial number, requiring forensics to take place to identify them.
This means the outcome of the charges could take up to 12 weeks to be revealed. The accused was not granted bail however for the five charges laid against him in the meantime.
Only days prior, on June 19, the township of Moe saw a similar event unfold on Hampton Street, in which a 28-year-old male was arrested at the scene after police allegedly discovered a homemade explosive inside his home.
This was also during a search warrant, executed by the combined forces of the Morwell Division Response Unit and Moe Police. It was not disclosed whether or not the man had existing charges, but police told the Express the warrant was executed as part of an ongoing investigation.
These kind of incidents are not limited to the Latrobe region however, and have been going on elsewhere in Victoria at alarmingly frequency in the last month, suggesting there may be a trend emerging of these sorts of crimes.
Not too far from the Latrobe Valley, a total of three junior footy matches were cancelled in Pakenham after the club rooms received a bomb threat recently.
Further out, the City of Geelong had an entire street taped off after a mysterious box was called in as a potential bomb threat. This alarmed locals after a malicious bomb threat was made by anti-war protestors during the Avalon Airshow, which led to the entire Airshow organisers North Geelong offices being evacuated on March 21, before police were able to announce it as a false alarm hours later.
Anyone with information on illicit firearm activity is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000, or submit a confidential report online at: www.crimestoppersvic.com.au
