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Authorities have apprehended two individuals in connection with the ongoing investigation into the whereabouts of Dezi Freeman, the fugitive accused of killing a police officer.
Officials have confirmed that these arrests are part of their efforts to trace Freeman’s movements following last August’s shooting incident in Porepunkah.
The individuals are currently being questioned by law enforcement. It has been clarified that they have no familial ties to Freeman.
The arrests were made after police launched an operation at a property located in the rural northeast of Victoria.
Members of the Special Operations Group spent three hours on the scene, attempting to negotiate Freeman’s peaceful surrender. The standoff escalated with the exchange of gunfire.
“He fired two shots and eight police responded. He was shot at least 20 times,” The Age crime writer John Silvester told 3AW.
“In all probability, the gun was shot out of his hand because it was some distance away.”
Investigators had been tracking a car coming and going from 56-year-old Freeman’s hideout before he was killed in a shootout about 8.30am on Monday, 9News understands.
9News has been told officers had been surveilling Freeman for several days after watching the car, which repeatedly made the almost 200-kilometre trip between Porepunkah and Thologolong, located on the Victoria-NSW border.
Police have asserted it would have been very difficult for the fugitive to remain hidden for so long without help.