Guns drawn in counter-terrorism exercise on Northern Rivers

This Northern Rivers town became the unlikely centre of counter-terrorism activity this weekend.

Lennox Head became the centre of counter-terrorism activity on Saturday as part of a joint exercise to test emergency service response to threat.

With guns drawn and emergency services on standby, police officers conducted a counter-terrorism raid at Lennox Head on Saturday (June 19).

But residents need not be alarmed, it was part of exercise Exercise ‘Blue Bottle IV’, developed by the Counter Terrorism and Special Tactics Command as part of the Australia-New Zealand Counter-Terrorism Committee (ANZCTC) to evaluate the response to contemporary mixed-mode attacks across NSW.

PHOTOS: Counter-terrorism exercise at Lennox Head

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The exercise in Lennox Head was the final session of a counter-terrorism exercise conducted in Sydney, the Hunter and Northern NSW on Saturday, to test the emergency response in multiple terrorist threat scenarios.

NSW Police said: “The Blue Bottle series has been running since 2018 as desktop exercises and this evolution was designed to build on those learnings and incorporate additional counter terrorism stakeholders from across the state”.

The NSW Police` Force-led exercise included officers and resources from the NSW Police Force, Fire and Rescue NSW, NSW Ambulance and the NSW Rural Fire Service.

Police and emergency services personnel will test their preparedness for a number of scenarios, including chemical/biological/radiological/nuclear (CBRN) threats, active armed offenders, and barricade/siege incidents.

In the last of four sessions, Saturday’s (June 19) exercise was conducted at the Alternate State Operations Centre at NSW Police Headquarters, Fire and Rescue NSW Emergency Services Academy, the Regional Operations Centre (Newcastle), and training facilities at Mayfield and Lennox Head.

Previously, the exercise was also conducted at training facilities in the Illawarra, Dubbo, and Wagga Wagga, and tested the capability and response of emergency services in major regional hubs.

While there was no current or impending threat to the community, anyone with information about extremist activity or possible threats to the community was urged to come forward, no matter how small or insignificant you may think the information may be. The National Security Hotline is 1800 123 400.

Further, information relating to any criminal activity in the community can be reported to Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or https://nsw.crimestoppers.com.au. Information will be treated in strict confidence. The public was reminded not to report crime via NSW Police social media pages.

For more information on countering terrorism in NSW, including national and state arrangements, legislation, and policy, visit: https://www.secure.nsw.gov.au.