Authorities launch air, land & sea search in northern NSW

Emergency services have launched a two-day air, land and sea search for a missing man in northern New South Wales.

Transcript

00:00 Months of investigations have led police here to Woolai, where emergency services are combing

00:06 the Woolai Woolai River behind me, searching for clues as to the whereabouts of Mr Copeland.

00:12 Mr Copeland was last seen at Maclean about 4.30pm on Sunday, September 3rd last year.

00:19 Officers began inquiries into Mr Copeland's disappearance before the State Homicide Squad

00:24 were called in to help with the investigation around January this year.

00:28 Police have zeroed in on Woolai here on the north coast after recently acquired CCTV footage

00:34 shows vision the 40-year-old travelling in the area in a silver 2012 Mitsubishi Lancer

00:39 a day after he was seen.

00:42 Police say Mr Copeland was living in Toowoomba in Queensland and had plans to move back to

00:46 the area to start a new job as a tradie.

00:49 However detectives believe Mr Copeland did not travel to Woolai alone and could have

00:53 been met with foul play, with his disappearance now being seen as suspicious.

00:59 Homicide Squad Commander Detective Superintendent Daniel Doherty held a media conference at

01:03 Woolai today to give an update to the investigation.

01:06 Obviously warm weather is a part of the environment but it's a large water mass and a large island

01:12 in the middle of the water mass.

01:14 We've got a number of specialist police that are here who are trained in the search both

01:21 on land and in water and will be here for a couple of days at least.

01:25 We're just getting information in relation to tracking the movements, information about

01:30 the vehicle of interest, the 2012 silver Mitsubishi Lancer.

01:36 That's why the enquiry is not only in here but also in the Toowoomba area and we have

01:40 to interview a lot of people, make a lot of enquiries in an effort to try and work out

01:44 the movements and try to get a timeline of what happened to Mr Copeland and where he

01:48 went.

01:49 Mr Copeland is described as being of Caucasian appearance, about 165cm tall, a solid build

01:56 with a blonde mohawk and a full sleeve tattoo on his right arm.

02:00 He was last seen wearing North Queensland Cowboys NRL shorts, a green long sleeve shirt

02:06 and a black hoodie.

02:07 As investigations continue, police are urging anyone with information on Mr Copeland's whereabouts

02:12 to come forward to Crime Stoppers.

02:14 [BLANK_AUDIO]