Crown lockdown: Man charged after incident at casino complex

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This was published 6 years ago

Crown lockdown: Man charged after incident at casino complex

By Anna Prytz

A man has been charged after an incident forced the evacuation of hundreds of people from the Crown complex on Wednesday.

A 55-year-old Malaysian national was charged with making threats to kill, making false reports to police and making false statements, after being arrested outside the Southbank complex about 4pm Wednesday.

Pedestrians were kept away from Crown casino as police responded to the incident.

Pedestrians were kept away from Crown casino as police responded to the incident.Credit: Simone Schluter

Concerned witnesses raised the alarm after seeing a man behaving erratically and allegedly making threats about the contents of his backpack.

Victoria Police Acting Commander David Clayton said on Wednesday police were called to Southbankat 3.30pm following multiple reports that a man was acting suspiciously.

The special operations group, critical incident response team, the bomb squad and the Metropolitan Fire Brigade all arrived at the scene.

The area was evacuated and a short time later, said Commander Clayton, a male was taken into custody.

No one was injured in the incident, he added.

Commander Clayton that nothing had been found in the backpack.

A heavy police presence surrounded the locked down Crown complex.

A heavy police presence surrounded the locked down Crown complex. Credit: Simon Schluter

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When the casino went into lockdown, patrons were evacuated and staff were told to stay in their "allocated area of work" until police declared the area safe.

Rex Chua, who works at Rhumbas restaurant in the Crown food court, said it was the first time the complex had been evacuated in the nine years he had worked there.

“We don’t know what happened, I was worried it could have been a bomb or a terrorist attack,” he said.

Police declared the complex safe at 7.30pm and the casino re-opened shortly thereafter.

The suspect will face Melbourne Magistrates' Court on Thursday.

A Crown casino spokesperson confirmed that an "isolated incident" had occurred at Crown Melbourne involving one patron.

''The issue was resolved peacefully with the assistance of Victoria Police," it added.

with Melissa Cunningham and Tom Cowie

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