- It was 1am on board HMAS Bathurst tied up at the patrol boat wharf in the calm, warm waters of HMAS Coonawarra navy base in Darwin yesterday.
The sailor on watch duty, who is in his early 20s, was neither expecting nor prepared for the brazen assault.
He was taken in a head lock and bashed to the ground, then threatened with a knife before being tied up.
His attacker knew exactly what he wanted and soon had the keys to the armoury of the Armidale Class patrol boat.
He fled the base with a booty of up to half a dozen 12-gauge shotguns and possibly a dozen 9mm Browning pistols.
According to navy sources, the robber must have had inside information to gain access to the boat and its armoury. “It has all the hallmarks of an inside job,” one source said.
Fortunately the vessel’s 25mm deck gun and dual .50 calibre machine guns were bolted down and its Steyr automatic assault rifles and Minimi machine guns were locked in a more secure armoury ashore. The national security breach could have been much, much worse.
Navy chief Vice-Admiral Ray Griggs said the young sailor whose life was threatened was OK and being looked after.
He said he had initiated a review of security on board navy ships following the robbery.
Military base security hit the news in 2009 when a terrorist plot against the Holsworthy army barracks near Sydney was foiled.
A review of security led to a $200 million funding pledge and saw 16 of 88 military bases around the country provided with armed response teams, including Australian Federal Police.
The headquarters of Northern Command at Larrakeyah Barracks and the nearby patrol boat base at HMAS Coonawarra in Darwin were not deemed a high security risk and private security contractors were left in place.
The $200 million earmarked for cameras, gates, fences and other security measures has been deferred under the Government’s defence budget cuts – Ian McPhedran
