Tassie police station fire bombed by molotov cocktail

UPDATED: A molotov cocktail was thrown at a Tasmanian police station on Friday night. WATCH THE VIDEO

UPDATED: A violent attack on a Northern police station overnight has been condemned by Tasmania Police.

About 10.50pm on Friday, a man allegedly threw a “very crudely made” molotov cocktail into the carpark of the Launceston Police Headquarters on Cimitiere St.

Northern District Commander Brett Smith said they believed the person was involved with a group of active criminals they had been investigating.

It was believed the person attempted to hit the station’s two diesel storage tanks with the device.

Commander Smith said it was very lucky no one was in the compound at the time, with about 15 officers and remand centre staff working that night, and detainees in the remand centre.

“We don’t believe there was any real risk other than property damage, however had persons been in the car park close by they could very likely have been killed or seriously injured,” he said.

“It landed to the right of the storage tanks. Some of the liquid did end up on the tanks, but there was no risk or concern at that point.

“The damage was limited mostly to some singeing and burning of one of the walls.

“It was a very ill considered, stupid act. It’s dangerous. Those types of devices are purely designed to cause death to people, to maim people, and cause significant property damage. There’s absolutely no excuse as to why someone would do such a stupid act.”

Commander Smith condemned the act.

“We believe the persons responsible are linked to a group of active criminals we’ve been targeting in Launceston over the last few months,” he said.

“They deal in drugs, they deal in stolen property, and we’ve taken a very firm approach in attempting to kerb their behaviour. We believe this is some type of response to that.

“This demonstrates how stupid this act is — people that make these devices and do that put themselves at significant risk of being seriously injured, if not, burned. Things can go wrong. That alone should be a reason not to do it.”

Being targeted in such a way did not make them nervous, Commander Smith said.

“It does strengthen our resolve to make sure that we’re here to support and protect the community.”

“We will increase our security around the police station for the time being, but we will come aggressively at these people.”

Anyone with information about the incident can contact Tasmania Police on 131 444 or Crime Stoppers anonymously on 1800 333 000 or crimestopperstas.com.au.