Police inspect the suspected getaway vehicle.
Ballarat police have made a breakthrough in this week’s Black Hill armed robbery after seizing the suspected getaway car, found dumped in Ballarat North yesterday.
Police are now hoping witnesses will have the next link in solving the brazen hold-up of the Black Hill Post Office on Tuesday afternoon, with what is believed to have been a sawn-off firearm.
The gold-coloured Ford Falcon sedan, stolen earlier on Tuesday from a Ballarat car park, was found at 11am yesterday dumped in a secluded yard at the rear of the ten-pin bowling centre on Howitt Street.
The car was not visible from either Howitt Street or Doveton Street and was reverse-parked against the yard’s rear fence.
Detectives from Ballarat’s Criminal Investigation Unit and crime scene services officers were at the scene taking photographs of the vehicle and making notes of its position.
Police also took photographs of a footprint outside the car’s passenger side.
The vehicle appeared not be be damaged and was later towed away. Detectives were tight-
lipped on the progress of the investigation.
Just before 4pm on Tuesday, a man armed with the weapon entered the Black Hill Post Office and demanded cash.
A witness told The Courier the man handed staff a bag and ordered them to “fill it up”.
Three other customers were inside the business at the time.
Police say the man escaped into the waiting car, driven by another male, with an unspecified amount of cash and some cigarettes. No one was injured in the armed hold-up.
Police spoke to several witnesses at the scene and have reviewed CCTV of the incident.
Anyone with information can call Ballarat Criminal Investigation Unit on 5336 6080 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
jordan.oliver@fairfaxmedia.com.au
