Sydney on edge: Dramatic scenes as police ram a van off a busy road during an alleged carjacking in broad daylight
A woman was arrested by heavily armed police in dramatic scenes on one of Sydney’s busiest roads after a delivery van was allegedly stolen in a brazen daylight carjacking.
Police were called to the M4 at Blacktown in Sydney’s west on Saturday morning following reports of a woman trying to escape the passenger side of a moving delivery van.
Highway patrol officers attempted to stop the van and initiated a pursuit after the vehicle allegedly failed to stop.
The pursuit was soon terminated due to public safety concerns.
A short time later, a passenger in the van – a 30-year-old woman, was located by police in King Street, Parramatta. She was shaken but uninjured.
With assistance from Polair, and the Tactical Operations Group tracking the vehicle, the alleged carjacking finally came to an end when armed police swooped and rammed the van off the road on James Ruse Drive at Rosehill.
Shocked witnesses saw camouflage-clad police pulling the alleged female driver out of the van, before yelling ‘Get on the ground’ and ‘You’re under arrest’, the Daily Telegraph reported.
‘We saw all the police in camouflage pulling this person out of the van,’ one recalled.
Heavily armed officers rammed into the white van which was allegedly stolen
The allegedly stolen van’s front bonnet was damaged during the police ram raid
‘We were so panicked we thought it was something really bad,’
The front bonnet of the allegedly stolen van sustained extensive damage during the ram raid.
The van was later towed away for police forensic testing.
A woman, 48, was arrested at the scene.
She was charged with a string of offences, including two counts of taking and driving conveyance without consent of owner, take/detain person with intent to obtain advantage cause actual bodily harm, and police pursuit – not stop – drive dangerously.
Police will allege the woman stole a second vehicle outside Nepean Hospital in Kingswood before stealing the van in Oxley Park.
The woman was refused bail to appear in Parramatta Local Court on Sunday.
Police have assured the public that the alleged carjacking has no links to last Sunday’s Bondi terror attacks.
A woman was arrested and taken to Granville Police Station, where she was charged with a series of offences
Police have seized the van, which was allegedly stolen from Oxley Park near Penrith
