The Lindt Cafe siege is one of Australia’s most infamous crimes. On December 15, 2014 a terrorist held ten customers and eight employees hostage.
The siege in Sydney’s CBD resulted in a 16-hour standoff. It ended when the NSW Police Tactical Operations Unit stormed the cafe, led by Officer Ben Besant.
Officer Ben Besant unpacks the final moments of the siege on the Crime Insiders podcast:
“Intially, the call came. Tiger, Tiger, Tiger,” Besant said, “which meant we could execute the EA [emergency access]… Running as fast as we can to the front door. Shotgun rounds going off behind us, cracking the night air.”
Two tactical officers shot out windows of the cafe and threw flash grenades inside to distract the perpetrator.
“In moments like that, everything just slows down so much,” he said.
Besant stormed into the cafe with a rifle in his hand, covered by a shield his colleague held. After Besant fired his first two shots, he started approaching the offender.
“From the moment I saw him, I had my laser pointed right in the centre of his chest. Which is centre body mass as we’re trained to do, especially with other hostages around.”
As hostages hid beneath tables, the team knew their only chance to save innocent lives was to kill Man Monis as quickly as possible to stop him detonating the bomb.
“He swivelled his shotgun around and we literally locked eyes in that moment. And I remember thinking when I was looking at him. Thinking I’m going to kill him.”
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