00:00Good morning. My name is Detective Acting Inspector Anna Bronski from ACT Police and Criminal Investigations.
00:08Police are warning the community of dangerous pipe bombs which have been located in public paths in the Belconnen area this week.
00:15On Tuesday and Wednesday, police responded to reports of several pipe bombs located near Lake Ginnadera.
00:22We are urging anyone who locates a suspicious item to stay with the item, do not pick it up, and call triple O.
00:30Anyone who witnesses suspicious behaviour is urged to contact police on 131-144 and while there is no information to suggest these pipe bombs are currently in other parts of Canberra,
00:39if you see something that matches the description of a pipe bomb anywhere else, please contact police.
00:45Can I have any questions?
00:46What do you know about these pipe bombs? Who do you think is behind them? Do you have any understanding at this point of where these are coming from?
00:54We're taking the matter very seriously.
00:56At the moment it is the current investigation, so I can't really comment on the status of that at the moment.
01:02However, I urge a member of the public, if they do have any information, to contact police on 131-144,
01:08or they can also provide that information anonymously via Crime Stoppers.
01:11How many have you found so far of the pipe bombs?
01:14As of this morning, there's 11 devices.
01:1811 devices.
01:18And who?
01:19Is it likely there's more of these devices around Canberra, do you think?
01:22That's unknown at this stage.
01:23For those you don't already know, can you provide a description of the pipe bombs?
01:27I'd refer you to the ACT policing website. You'll actually see images of one of the items that
01:31has been located by police. It's a metallic cylindrical object. There's a number of images on there.
01:37I'd urge Canberra residents to view that image, and if they locate anything similar to that,
01:44to contact police immediately.
01:45And who has been finding these?
01:48Any explosive is dangerous. That's why we are taking it so seriously.
01:53An explosive in a public place does raise a lot of concern for police.
01:57And again, I urge anyone who locates an object not to touch it, not to pick it up, but to immediately call police.
02:03And so who has been finding these? Like, has it been families or kids picking these up, or have they been getting found?
02:10Police have been contacted by several members of the public who have located them,
02:15and police have located further devices through searching the area.
02:18Is there actually explosives within these devices or are they simply in the shape of a bomb?
02:24Some of the items that have been located have been detonated prior to police locating them,
02:28and some have not yet detonated. So they are explosives, and that is why we are
02:33treating it so seriously.
02:34Is there one being alert in those detonations?
02:36We are not aware of anyone sustaining any injuries from a detonation of one of these devices.
02:42However, they are explosives, and so if anyone would locate them to not touch the item,
02:49but to call police immediately.
02:51When you say people should stay with the item, if they do find it,
02:54is there a certain kind of perimeter they should keep away from it, given they do a few of the explosives?
02:59Absolutely, it is an explosive, so we do not want members of the public to pick them up,
03:04we do not want members of the public to bring them to police stations, we want them to call
03:07triple O immediately.
03:08How are police treating these? Are you calling them the bomb squad when you find them?
03:11What are you doing with them?
03:12We're following our protocols in relation to when explosives are identified.
03:17Any sort of indication of the motive for why these devices have been around the place?
03:21We are treating this very seriously, and investigations are currently underplayed,
03:24would be inappropriate for me to comment on that right now. But again, urging members of the public
03:29to contact police via 1-3-1-4-4 if they see any suspicious behaviour, if they locate a device,
03:35to call police immediately on triple zero, or if they wish to provide information anonymously through
03:41Crime Stoppers.
03:41You mentioned some of these have been detonated. How have they detonated when they're out in the public?
03:48I'm not an explosives expert, and it would be inappropriate for me to provide commentary on that aspect.
03:53Is there any kind of remote detonation aspect, though, or are these pretty simple devices?
03:58Again, I'm not an explosives expert. It would be inappropriate for me to comment.
04:02Has this been treated as a terrorism incident?
04:05At this stage, it is currently under investigation, and we are treating it very seriously,
04:11but it has not been declared a terrorism-related event.
04:15Have there been previous instances of pipe bombs being found in Canberra previously?
04:19I would not be comfortable answering that question without actually researching that.
04:25Yeah, sorry.
04:26Can you say there's a suspected target at this point?
04:31You spoke about the motive you can't comment on.
04:33Are they in particular areas? Are they near certain buildings, for instance?
04:38At the moment, the devices that have been located have been along footpaths between
04:43Jointon Smith Drive and Shenendera Drive in Belconnen. They're in public places, footpaths and greenbelts.
04:49You've said that some have been detonated if there's been any damage to properties?
04:53Sorry?
04:54Any damage to property caused by detonations?
04:56Not that it has been identified by police at this stage.
04:59So have these pipe bombs been detonated in another location and relocated here,
05:03or have they been detonated in the location that you found them?
05:06We're unsure with all of the items. It appears that they most likely have been detonated in place,
05:12but it is currently subject to police investigation, and that will be some of the inquiries that we do follow up.
05:19In your release, you said that they've got a two-day period. Do you suspect they've been there for a longer period of time?
05:25Do you know how long they might have been there?
05:27No, that will be subject of the investigation, how long they've been in locations.
05:31And who found the first one? Was it a member of the public?
05:33I believe it was a member of the public, with further devices being located by police.
05:37Were they in close proximity to each other, or where was it spread out?
05:42So it's through an area of approximately one kilometre in length,
05:46between Joynton-Smith Drive and Ginadera Drive in Belconnen.
05:50Last question, guys.
05:51You mentioned, like, obviously these have been detonated.
05:54How did police know they had already been detonated when they picked them up?
05:56Like, was there scorched earth or something?
05:59Or is it just the pipe was open?
06:02So a number of the devices have been located intact,
06:05and a number have been located partially destroyed.
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