Lindt cafe siege hero issues dire warning about how manhunt for Dezi Freeman will end – and his key piece of advice for cops: Live updates

By KYLIE STEVENS, SENIOR BREAKING NEWS REPORTER, AUSTRALIA

Updated: 22:30 EDT, 3 September 2025

The manhunt for Dezi Freeman has entered its tenth day.

Freeman allegedly gunned down Detective Neal Thompson, 59, and Senior Constable Vadim De Waart, 35, at his rural property in Porepunkah in the Victorian High Country last Tuesday.

 The Australian Defence Force has been called in to join the marathon manhunt as efforts to track down the fugitive ramp up.

Gun-toting tactical officers  and sniffer dogs converged on several properties in nearby Buckland on Wednesday.

Police later revealed that more than 100 properties have been searched in Porepunkah and nearby towns since last week.

Follow Daily Mail’s live coverage here. 

Lindt Cafe hero’s dire warning to cops

A former tactical officer has urged police involved in the manhunt for Dezi Freeman to not let revenge drive their pursuit of the alleged double cop killer.

Then-NSW Police officer Ben Besant was hailed a hero after he and his team stormed into Sydney’s Lindt Cafe and shot dead siege terrorist Man Monis in December 2014.

His identity was suppressed for almost a decade before he finally broke his silence late last year.

Besant was also involved in capturing notorious fugitive Malcolm Naden in 2013 following a seven-year manhunt.

Besant has urged the 450-strong police force to not let the deaths of Detective Neal Thompson, 59, and Senior Constable Vadim De Waart, 35, drive their ambitions to track down Freeman, as the manhunt enters its tenth day.

‘It’s hard not to. It’s hard not to get into that mindset. Use it to motivate you. Don’t let it cloud your judgement,’ Besant told Seven News.

‘From what I’ve seen from this lunatic (Freeman), I don’t imagine he’s going to go down without a fight.’

Besant is ‘very confident’ that police will eventually track down Freeman.

‘They know what they’re doing. It will happen. You will catch up with him,’ he said.

What police DON’T want you to know about the manhunt – and the grim reality Freeman may not be found

A former Australian Federal Police boss has shared insight into the enormous manhunt for alleged cop killer Dezi Freeman and why police have been tight-lipped about specific operational details.

The Australian Defence Force has been called in to join the marathon manhunt as efforts to track down the fugitive ramp up.

Former AFP detective superintendent David Craig has detailed how military involvement will assist tracking Freeman down.

‘The military have access to technologies that aren’t available to the civilian population and aren’t made public,’ he told Sunrise on Thursday.

‘I don’t feel comfortable in listing some of those, but it is another level.

‘The operation will still be led by the Victorian Police, who are doing a very good job with this.

‘They just need some additional technical support, and in other cases similar to this, where the military have not been involved, they’ve gone on unresolved in these manhunts.’

Mr Craig also conceded there’s a possibility that Freeman may never be found.

‘This person is part of a very hard ideological group,’ he said.

‘I don’t think any close associates are going to roll over and decide to talk to the authorities for a couple of thousand dollars.’

Mr Craig referenced the four-year manhunt of New Zealand fugitive Tom Phillips, who remains on the run from police.

‘The New Zealand police refused to call in the military,’ he said.

‘I was involved in that case to start with.

‘They didn’t use the military and offered a reward of $80,000. Phillips still remains on the run to this day, almost four years later, with his three children.’

Wild moment Freeman tried to arrest a judge

Freeman attempted to ‘arrest’ a magistrate and police officer during a court appearance last year.

Footage has resurfaced online of the incident as it unfolded at Wangaratta in November.

Freeman is a sovereign citizen, and his attempt to arrest the magistrate and officer is a typical sign of the behaviour of people who follow the ideology.

They believe the government is illegitimate and the law does not apply to them.

More details are available in the link below.

Cops raid Freeman property again

Police have swarmed on Freeman’s former property at Rayner Track, Porepunkah, where he allegedly killed two police officers following a shootout on August 26.

Authorities have scoured the scene several times in the last ten days.

Two sets of police convoys arrived at the property before 11.30am on Thursday.

Two BearCats and another 15 police vehicles arrived at the farm where officers, including heavily armed SOG police, are scouring the property.

Despite a cold and rainy day in Porepunkah, a ray of sunshine is beaming down on Freeman’s former property.

Police are focusing their search on a gully with a thicket of bushes that borders Buckland River.

A roadblock on Mount Buffalo Road near the Mount Buffalo Caravan Park, which has been in place since day one of the manhunt, has also been removed.

What happens if Freeman decides to surrender

Police have secretive ways to communicate with alleged cop killer Dezi Freeman if he finally bows to their unrelenting surrender pleas, a criminologist has revealed.

The Australian Defence Force has joined the operation at the request of Victoria Police, as the manhunt enters its tenth day.

Police believe that Freeman is still alive and people possibly know where he is hiding.

Victoria Police and his wife Mali, who was present during the shootings, have publicly called for Freeman to give himself up through a surrender plan.

‘Your destiny is in your hands,’ Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush said on Wednesday.

Such a plan involves police giving a wanted person clear and simple instructions, according to former NSW Police hostage negotiator turned criminologist Vincent Hurley.

‘(It’s) as if you’re talking to a 10-year-old,’ the Macquarie University lecturer told AAP.

‘When you’re talking to someone who has been out in the environment like that, who has been worn down over time and could be really hungry, fatigued and mentally exhausted … you’re talking in short, easy to understand, concise language.’

Every question should be followed up with confirmation of comprehension and a warning any behaviour outside of it may be cause to shoot, the ex-NSW Police detective superintendent said.

Dr Hurley said police could make contact with Freeman if he didn’t have a mobile phone or service was patchy, including through a loudspeaker.

There were also other ways to communicate but he wouldn’t go into detail, saying crime figures would be watching the unfolding search in the hope of learning operational strategies.

‘I know for a fact, as a negotiator for eight years, underworld figures and organised crime syndicates – they watch this and they take notes and learn,’ Dr Hurley added.

He believes that Freeman, who is considered to be an experienced bushman, will have stashed food, water, clothing, ammunition and firearms in a fairly dry location.

That’s more likely to be in a cave or rock shelf, rather than a mineshaft, to make sure the supplies are out of the elements, he said.

What we know about so farDezi Freeman, 56, remains on the run, nine days after he allegedly gunned down Detective Neal Thompson, 59, and Senior Constable Vadim De Waart, 35, at his Porepunkah property in Victoria’s High Country.Ten officers attended the property to serve a warrant over historic sexual assault charges involving a minor when Freeman allegedly opened fire, killing two and wounding a third.Family and former neighbours have revealed that Freeman has been on a disability pension for more than two decades, despite the sovereign citizen’s hatred of government and authority.Police are no closer to tracking down Freeman, despite heavily armed officers searching more than 100 properties in the last eight days. Police have also been inundated with hundreds of calls and information from the community and some of Freeman’s associates.Police haven’t ruled out laying criminal charges against Freeman’s wife Mali, who’s yet to provide a statement to police, despite being ‘present’ at the scene on the day of the deadly ambush.Australian Defence Force personnel have been brought in to assist as the manhunt ramps up.A neighbour who heard the officers gunned down in the ‘ambush’, has revealed police are yet to speak with her. Police closed off her street at Porepunkah in Victoria’s High Country several times to question Freeman’s associates. But the woman claims that not once have police reached out to her.A former Australian Federal Police detective superintendent has admitted there’s a possibility that Freeman may never be found.Police tactics called into question

A woman who claims to have heard the moment Dezi Freeman allegedly shot dead two Victoria Police officers says detectives have yet to speak with her.

The neighbour – who wished to remain anonymous because of her friendship with Freeman’s wife Amalia – told Daily Mail that police closed off her street at Porepunkah in Victoria’s High Country several times to question Freeman’s associates.

However, she said that not once have police reached out to her, despite her relationship with the family and the fact that she was an ear-witness to the fatal shooting.

Read Karleigh Smith’s exclusive below.

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Lindt cafe siege hero issues dire warning about how manhunt for Dezi Freeman will end – and his key piece of advice for cops: Live updates