Police Briefs

With Mick Roberts

A MAN is before the courts charged over a robbery of a Petersham money exchange outlet. On Monday June 30, the 29-year-old man allegedly entered the Parramatta Road business and threatened a woman. The man allegedly demanded the shop assistant open a safe, activating an alarm which alerted police. Police arrested the man at the scene. He was taken to Newtown Police Station where he was charged with aggravated robbery and dealing with property suspected of being proceeds of crime. All proceeds of the alleged offence have been recovered.

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POLICE rescued 11 people trapped the Sydney Tower elevator on Wednesday July 2. The twin-deck lift became stuck about 6.30pm. Police attached to The Rocks Local Area Command and Rescue Squad were called to the scene two hours later after maintenance crews were unable to release those trapped inside. In a delicate operation, police freed the passengers one by one by attaching harnesses to them, pulling them out through a hatch in the ceiling of the elevator, before transferring them to another lift and ferrying them to the ground level. The rescue operation took around three hours to complete and the lift passengers were given a clean bill of health. Building management is now looking into what caused the incident.

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POLICE are appealing for assistance after a recent spate of deliberately lit fires in the Bondi and Waverley areas. About 5.50am Thursday July 3 Eastern Suburbs police were called to a fire at a store on Carrington Road, Waverley. Forensic Investigators examined the scene and the fire is being treated as suspicious.
During the last few weeks there have been a number of fires in garbage bins and skip bins within the Bondi and Waverley areas that appear to have been deliberately lit, including a motor vehicle which was destroyed by fire in Castlefield Street, Bondi the evening of Saturday June 21.
A fire was lit in a garbage bin behind a shop in Oxford Street in Bondi Junction in the early hours of Thursday June 26. Another garbage bin was set on fire in Campbell Parade at Bondi Beach in the early hours of Wednesday July 2.
A skip bin was set on fire at the rear of a school in Salisbury Street in Waverley in the early hours of Tuesday July 1.
All of the fires are being treated as suspicious and investigations are continuing.
Investigators are asking anyone with information about the fires or who may have seen anyone acting suspiciously in the areas around where the fires were lit to contact Waverley Police on 9369 9899 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.