Men arrested at Coolalinga Hungry Jack’s hit with 28 charges

The two men nabbed by police in a dramatic arrest at a Darwin fast food restaurant will face court after being hit with almost 30 charges between them. Read the list of alleged offences here.

The two men involved in a dramatic arrest at a Darwin fast food restaurant have been hit with a slew of charges after spending the weekend behind bars.

The men, aged 30 and 31, were nabbed by police in an operation that ended dramatically in the Coolalinga Hungry Jack’s drive-through on Thursday afternoon and have been hit with almost 30 charges between them.

The 30-year-old will face Darwin Local Court on Tuesday while the 31-year-old will appear sometime this week.

Footage of the arrest, showing several Territory Response Group members dressed in plain clothes pointing shotguns at the car the men were in, went viral on social media in the days after.

Two men will face Darwin Local Court this week on a slew of charges after a dramatic arrest in the Coolalinga Hungry Jack’s drive-through on Thursday. Picture: Facebook

On Friday, Detective Senior Sergeant Karl Day from NT Police’s Serious Crime Unit said both men were targets of existing arrest warrants.

Sergeant Day said the 30-year-old man, who is facing 20 charges, had allegedly breached his parole by failing to submit for a drug test on January 3.

On January 5, the 30-year-old allegedly threatened residents at a Palmerston home with a crossbow.

An hour later, he allegedly returned armed with a shotgun.

Detective Senior Sergeant Karl Day of NT Police’s Serious Crime Unit said the public arrest was deemed a “high-risk operation”. Picture: Riley Walter

A joint police operation involving the Territory Response Group, the Dog Operations Unit, Serious Crime detectives and general duties police was then launched.

“A plan was then implemented to apprehend that particular individual as safely as possible,” Sergeant Day said.

“This was deemed a high-risk operation due to the presence of the weapons.”

The dramatic arrest was executed after an earlier attempt to capture the 30-year-old failed when he dived in the back of a ute, believed to be stolen, and fled a Karama service station.

Police tracked the men to the Hungry Jack’s, where they pounced, shattering the windscreen and windows of the car with bean bag rounds.

A 30-year-old man was allegedly in possession of a crossbow and shotgun when he was dramatically arrested by police at Coolalinga Hungry Jack's. Picture: NT Police

The 31-year-old man in the car was also arrested after police identified him as an “active target” for the Domestic Violence Unit.

Police found a shotgun, shotgun cartridges, a crossbow, knives and drug paraphernalia in the car. Sergeant Day said the arrest was a “successful operation” carried out by a “well-trained TRG Unit”.

The 30-year-old has been charged with 20 offences including seven counts of aggravated assault, going armed in public, assaulting police and possessing a firearm unlicensed.

The 31-year-old man has been charged with eight offences including aggravated assault, possessing a firearm unlicensed, unlawfully causing serious harm and breaching bail.