1984 Sydney bank robbery
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The 1984 Sydney bank robbery and hostage crisis was an incident that took place between the hours of 10:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on 31 January 1984 in George Street,
Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
,
New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...
,
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
, when a 35-year-old male went on a bank robbery spree, taking 11 people hostage, before holding police at bay for several hours before finally being shot dead. The event was described as "Australia's most dramatic hostage chase" with "scenes likened to a Hollywood action film."


Perpetrator

Turkish born 35-year-old Hakki Bahadir Atahan was unemployed at the time of his armed robbery spree and had carried out around 16 or 17 bank robberies between March 1983 and January 1984. Atahan lived an expensive lifestyle renting a luxurious penthouse apartment in Manly, owned several expensive cars and robbed up to three banks a day, amassing over A$150,000 in a year.


Events

On the morning of 31 January 1984, Atahan had successfully robbed two or three banks before entering the
Commonwealth Bank The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), or CommBank, is an Australian multinational bank with businesses across New Zealand, Asia, the United States and the United Kingdom. It provides a variety of financial services including retail, busines ...
in George Street, Sydney. Due to the earlier robberies, police were on high alert and quickly responded to the Commonwealth Bank robbery with dozens of heavily armed tactical police from both the Tactical Response Group (TRG) and the Special Weapons & Operations Section (SWOS), forming a perimeter. During negotiations, Atahan fired at least two shots from a pistol and released all the bank's customers. Some time later, Atahan released four female bank staff whilst keeping five male staff as hostages. Some two-and-a-half hours later, Atahan ended negotiations and emerged from the bank encircled by the five hostages, each of whom was forced to place a hand atop the robber's head. This tactic caused confusion and prevented police marksmen from obtaining a clear view, and thus depriving them of the opportunity to shoot him. Atahan forced the five hostages into a nearby Datsun sedan which had its keys left in it. He then forced a hostage to drive through police roadblocks, which began a pursuit that lasted several hours and involved 39 police cars, a police helicopter and four Water Police launches. After two hours of driving around, Atahan released a hostage and collected his 23-year-old girlfriend Sharon Oliver. Upon reaching the Spit Bridge, police raised the bridge, preventing Atahan from travelling any further. Detectives from the Special Weapons & Operations Section (SWOS) approached the vehicle, ordering Atahan to surrender. Atahan fired his
.32 ACP .32 ACP ( Automatic Colt Pistol, also known as .32 Automatic) is a centerfire pistol cartridge. It is a semi-rimmed, straight-walled cartridge developed by firearms designer John Browning, initially for use in the FN M1900 semi-automatic pi ...
revolver at point-blank range at Detective Senior Constable Steve Canelis, striking him just above his nose. Detective Senior Constable Donald Packer fired one shot at Atahan through a side window while Detective Sergent John Nagle shot a round through the back window. Atahan was hit in the head and chest and died. Detective Senior Constable Canelis survived his gunshot wound and returned to work four months later and retired a number of years after with the bullet still lodged in his shoulder.


Aftermath

The incident, including news footage from the time, features in the 2009 Australian TV series ''
Gangs of Oz ''Gangs of Oz'' is an Australian television documentary series on the Seven Network narrated by actor Colin Friels Colin Friels (born 25 September 1952) is a Scottish-born Australian actor of theatre, TV and film and presenter Early life F ...
'', Episode 4 – "Armed and Dangerous".


Casualties

* Detective Senior Constable Steve Canelisshot in the face at point-blank range, but survived. * Two hostagesrushed to the hospital with undisclosed minor injuries. * Hakki Bahadir Atahanshot dead by police.


See also

*
List of bank robbers and robberies This is a list of bank robbery, bank robberies, bank robbers and gangs involved in bank robberies. Australia ;Robbers * Brenden Abbott * Christopher Binse, Christopher "Badness" Binse * Darcy Dugan * Keith Faure * Frank Gardiner–Ben Hall gang ...
*
Timeline of major crimes in Australia This is a timeline of major crimes in Australia. 19th century 1800s *26 January 1808 – George Johnston played a key role in the only successful armed takeover of government in Australia's recorded history, the Rum Rebellion. Johnston late ...
* Crime in Australia


References


External links


The Age, newspaper article, Thursday 2 February 1984, page 6
* Dangerous to Know: An Australasian Crime Compendium, By James Morton, Susanna Lobez, Melb University Press / *
Gangs of Oz ''Gangs of Oz'' is an Australian television documentary series on the Seven Network narrated by actor Colin Friels Colin Friels (born 25 September 1952) is a Scottish-born Australian actor of theatre, TV and film and presenter Early life F ...
- Episode 4 – Armed and Dangerous {{DEFAULTSORT:Sydney's 1984 'Dog Day Afternoon' 1984 crimes in Australia Crime in Sydney Bank robberies History of Australia (1945–present) Hostage taking in Australia 1980s in Sydney Robberies in Australia Hostage rescue operations