After three weeks, travel warning lifted as police continue search for suspected cop killer

3 hours ago 5

Victoria Police ran Australia’s “largest ever tactical police operation” in the search for suspected cop killer Dezi Freeman on Friday, which involved more than 125 heavily armed officers searching through caves and ravines in the state’s rugged north-east.

The operation comes as authorities announced an end to a travel warning for the area around Porepunkah, nearly three weeks after Dezi Freeman fled into the bush. He allegedly shot and killed Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, 59, and Senior Constable Vadim De Waart-Hottart, 35, during an operation to serve a warrant on the 56-year-old.

More than 115 heavily armed police from around Australia and New Zealand scoured bushland in the state’s north-east on Friday for alleged cop killer Dezi Freeman.

“Today, we say to the community of Victoria, we’re making a slight lift in the warnings – the travel warnings for the Porepunkah area. A change is to allow the community to return to a state of normality,” acting Deputy Commissioner Regional Operations Russell Barrett said at a press conference on Sunday.

“We’re saying that people can return to that area. We’re no longer saying to people they need to avoid that area. The [Mount Buffalo National] Park remains closed. Our search efforts remain focused on that area.”

It has been 20 days since Freeman, also known as Desmond Filby, went on the run on August 26 after the fatal confrontation, prompting a massive police manhunt that has called in assistance from the military and law enforcement interstate and internationally, and led to the offer of a $1 million reward for his capture.

Barrett described Friday’s operation as “incredibly difficult”, with officers potentially exposed to lethal harm while searching for Freeman.

“Our Special Operations Group, together with equivalents from all Australian states and territories and New Zealand … over 125 specialist tactical members ... scoured and searched an area in the immediate vicinity of Freeman’s location.

“This included extremely rugged areas. They were crawling through caves. They were traversing rivers and falls. They were searching plantations and gorges in an effort to find Freeman.”

“We’re looking for a person who is armed, dangerous, and has a recent history of murdering two police officers. So this is not something [where] we can do a line search like we’re looking for a missing person, which we often do when we search bushland.”

“If we think about Freeman and what he’s capable of, every step must be taken really, really carefully. When you consider what might be confronting you, it’s an incredibly difficult search.”

Barrett refused to say whether the operation uncovered any sign of Freeman.

“I remind the Victorian community and all community members that this is an incredibly challenging moment in Victoria Police’s history as we search for the perpetrator responsible for the deaths of two of our colleagues.”

Victoria Police have released photos and videos of the search on Friday, showing heavily armed officers searching the rugged terrain deep in the hills around Porepunkah.

Barrett said the decision to lift the travel warning was “really difficult decision to make” and a “really difficult balance” between the need to find Freeman and the needs of the local community.

Alleged Porepunkah gunman Dezi Freeman, pictured in 2018.

“We’re incredibly conscious of the impact the operation has on the local community, and we’re talking to them about that all the time. We’re trying to find that balance.”

Barrett advised anyone travelling back into the area, including holiday home owners, to “be mindful of your own safety … be vigilant”.

“It’s really important for us to understand if they see anything unusual when they when they return. Really important for us to know immediately if a burglary has occurred at a house that’s normally vacant.”

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