Two men have been arrested as part of an ongoing police probe into the movements of Dezi Freeman after he killed two police officers last year.
Freeman was shot dead at a remote property in Thologolong, near the Victorian-NSW border on March 30.
He had been on the run for seven months after fatally shooting two police officers who were visiting his home in Porepunkah in Victoria’s north-east last August to serve an arrest warrant.
After Freeman was shot death, police launched an investigation into those who may have helped Freeman evade authorities for months.
‘Detectives from Taskforce Summit arrested two people this morning as part of their ongoing investigation into the movements of Desmond Freeman following the fatal shooting of two police officers in Porepunkah last August,’ a police statement on Tuesday read.
‘A 48-year-old man and a 35-year-old man were arrested on May 26 at two separate locations in north-east Victoria.
‘The pair will now be interviewed by police.
‘The investigation remains ongoing and as such, we are not in a position to provide further details at this immediate time.’
Dezi Freeman (pictured) fatally shot two police officers who were visiting his home in Porepunkah in August last year
Two men have been arrested as part of their ongoing investigation into Dezi Freeman’s movements after he shot dead two police officers at his Porepunkah property last August
No charges are yet been laid.
Police are yet to reveal the locations of Tuesday’s arrests but confirmed the men detained were not family members of Freeman.
It comes weeks after a man and woman were arrested at separate properties on April 4 in relation to the ongoing investigation into Freeman. The pair were later released without any charges laid.
The latest update comes one day after a coronial inquest into the deadly police operation at Porepunkah last August got underway in Melbourne.
Officers had attended the property to execute a search warrant and speak to Freeman over alleged child sex offences when he shot dead Senior Constable Vadim De Waart-Hottart and Detective Leading Senior Constable Neil Thompson.
A third officer was shot in the leg but survived.
State Coroner Judge Liberty Sanger opened the inquest on Monday by paying tribute to the fallen officers.
The inquest Freeman had mocked Sen Const De Waart-Hottart and looted his body after shooting him in the head with a shotgun.
‘F***ing scum … you f***ing die in f***ing hell,’ Freeman shouted as Senior Constable De Waart-Hottart lay on the ground.
Standing over the bodies of his victims, the gunman unleashed his hate-filled rant at the dying officers.
‘I had no choice. I had no choice,’ Freeman said repeatedly after shooting the officers.
An inquest in Freeman’s death in March is being held separately.
It was revealed on Tuesday that specialist police continue to work without body-worn cameras, eight years after Victoria Police began to roll out the technology.
None of the officers who gunned down Freeman were wearing body-worn cameras.
The officers were members of Victoria Police’s special operations group, who conducted covert surveillance on the fugitive’s location for a week before moving in and attempting to negotiate with him over several hours.
