{"id":665663,"date":"2026-05-12T09:02:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T09:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/665663\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T09:02:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T09:02:11","slug":"man-charged-over-allegedly-robbing-cash-transit-vehicle-with-weapon-in-hervey-bay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/665663\/","title":{"rendered":"Man charged over allegedly robbing cash transit vehicle with weapon in Hervey Bay"},"content":{"rendered":"

Police say they have charged a man with armed robbery after he allegedly stole a significant amount of money from a cash-in-transit vehicle.<\/p>\n

Officers say the 43-year-old threatened the armoured vehicle’s security officers, aged 55 and 60, with a weapon on the Fraser Coast at around 6:30am today.<\/p>\n

Wide Bay Burnett District Inspector Craig Mansfield said the exchange unfolded while the pair were transferring money between the van and an ATM at the shopping centre in Eli Waters.<\/p>\n

\"Armored\"<\/p>\n

Police say the man allegedly stole from an armoured vehicle outside the Eli Waters shopping centre on Monday morning.\u00a0 (ABC Wide Bay: Olivia Nunes-Malek)<\/p>\n

It is believed a physical altercation unfolded between the group and one of the security officers, who fired a shot from their weapon.<\/p>\n

CCTV of the incident captured from a nearby store shows a man driving away from the scene in a utility vehicle.<\/p>\n

Inspector Mansfield said the discharged bullet hit one of the tyres on the suspect’s utility vehicle during his escape.<\/p>\n

The security guards have received medical treatment for their minor injuries but are “clearly shaken up”, according to Inspector Mansfield.<\/p>\n

\"Craig<\/p>\n

Detective Inspector Craig Mansfield said a “level of planning” was done by the suspect before the alleged armed robbery. (ABC Wide Bay: James C Taylor)<\/p>\n

While police are not revealing the exact amount of cash taken, Inspector Mansfield said “hundreds of thousands of dollars” was allegedly stolen.<\/p>\n

All the stolen cash\u00a0has been recovered.<\/p>\n

Inspector Mansfield said police were looking into whether the robbery was a pre-planned heist.<\/p>\n

“We’ll be alleging that there was a level of planning that has occurred,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The police forensics team collects evidence at the scene for further testing. (ABC Wide Bay: Olivia Nunes-Malek)<\/p>\n

Police said a weapon left behind at the scene was a gel blaster, a recreational device that fired beads instead of bullets.<\/p>\n

Inspector Mansfield said the blaster was “alleged to have been used by the offender” when the struggle unfolded.<\/p>\n

The man was later found at an abandoned property in Craignish.<\/p>\n

“Police challenged that vehicle as they approached it and the male \u2026 was said to be in possession of a knife, and he threatened those police,” Inspector Mansfield said.<\/p>\n

\"Police<\/p>\n

Police were involved in an altercation with the suspect at an abandoned property in Craignish. (ABC Wide Bay: James C Taylor)<\/p>\n

Officers fired a shot from a weapon before the man escaped in his vehicle.<\/p>\n

No-one was injured during the incident.<\/p>\n

Inspector Mansfield said a police pursuit ensued into nearby bushland, where they found his vehicle left on the side of the road and arrested the man.<\/p>\n

He will appear at the Hervey Bay Magistrates Court tomorrow.<\/p>\n

\"Searle<\/p>\n

Darrell Searle (right) and his daughter Tegan Searle were “pretty surprised” to learn the man had allegedly crashed his ute into their property in Craignish. (ABC Wide Bay: James C Taylor)<\/p>\n

Darrell Searle is the owner of the rural property where the man allegedly crashed his vehicle before being arrested.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 63-year-old “had no idea” his home was part of a major investigation until his daughter, Tegan, notified him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I was pretty surprised, actually, to think I’d been that close \u2026 I must not have been far away in the time frame for when it all happened,” Mr Searle said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He spent around two hours replacing 20 metres of barbed wire on his fence so his horses did not escape the property.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Investigations into the incident continue, with anyone who saw the incident or witnessed the vehicle in the area urged to contact the police.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Police say they have charged a man with armed robbery after he allegedly stole a significant amount of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":665280,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[321272,321270,64,63,321271,207684,44,321273],"class_list":["post-665663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-alleged-armed-robbery","tag-armaguard","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-craignish","tag-fraser-coast","tag-news","tag-police-arrest"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=665663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/665280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=665663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=665663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=665663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}