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A carload of men from Victoria has been stopped by heavily armed tactical police in Sydney’s south-west while travelling to Bondi Beach, potentially armed, for unknown reasons.
The men were driving a white hatchback with Victorian plates through Liverpool when they were rammed by the tactical operations unit.
Unit members in camouflage and with heavy weapons drawn pulled five men onto the footpath and handcuffed them with zip ties. Some of the men appeared to be injured and bleeding.
Sources with knowledge of the unfolding operation, not permitted to speak publicly, said a weapon may have been found in the car, though that was unconfirmed.
The motive of the men was also unclear. The group was flagged because they were known to authorities in Victoria, sources said.
A second hatchback, also with Victorian number plates, was intercepted a few streets away and two men were arrested.
NSW Police said in a statement shortly after 8.15pm that the operation had concluded and there was no ongoing risk to the community.
“Police have not identified any connection to the current police investigation of the Bondi terror attack,” the statement said.
The operation was in response to “information received that a violent act was possibly being planned”.
In footage posted on social media, five men could be seen lying on the road and footpath at the intersection of George Street and Campbell Street on Thursday afternoon.
The vision shows one man whose head appears to be bleeding. In later footage, he appears to have been bandaged.
The crashed Hyundai hatchback has Victorian number plates, and appeared to have a hole in its windscreen.
Nine News reported beanbag rounds were believed to have been used.
Other footage from the scene shows mobile phones sitting atop evidence envelopes and the men lined up against a fence nearby before being moved across the road into the shade.
Another video posted online by SCN Worldstar shows similarly outfitted officers pulling two other men from a Toyota hatchback on Laurantus Serviceway.
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