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Malmsbury riot: Fifth escapee arrested, two still on run linked to 'crime wave'

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A fifth escapee from the Malmsbury youth detention centre breakout has been arrested, leaving two still on the run.

Four of the seven teens on the run overnight were arrested earlier Thursday.

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Malmsbury riot: four teen escapees arrested

Four teens are arrested in Melbourne's southeast but three remain at large after breaking out of a youth detention centre amid a riot and allegedly carjacking a pensioner's SUV on Wednesday. Courtesy Seven News Melbourne.

The Malmsbury breakout came amid Wednesday's riots, and was followed by a violent overnight crime wave, police said.

The latest arrest, of a 17-year-old Redan male, was made near Ballarat about midday.
 
Police are continuing the search for the two remaining escapees.

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Premier Daniel Andrews said the Malmsbury breakout and rioting would result in significant changes to the youth justice system and threw his support behind Minister for Youth Affairs Jenny Mikakos, who has come under pressure to resign. 

About 8am on Thursday, four youths were arrested at a house in Ashburton, Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton told Fairfax Media.

Weapons allegedly used in a home invasion at Mitcham were seized at the Ashburton home, police said.

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At 2.30am, the home of a young family in Quarry Road, Mitcham was stormed by youths who smashed through their front door brandishing a machete. A couple and their two young children, aged four and one, were inside. Neighbours heard screams of "Get out, go on!" before the youths stole their silver Mercedes.

The luxury car was later seized by police at the Ashburton house.

Three are still on the run, last seen armed in Melbourne's south-east. Police are rushing an application before the Children's Court to allow the release of names and photos to assist in the escapees' capture.

Crimes allegedly linked to the young criminals occurred almost every hour overnight in Melbourne, and potentially in Moe, including:

  • Attempted armed robbery in Berwick at 9.20pm where offenders confronted a person in a driveway of a house and tried to steal a car.
  • Street robbery at 10.15pm in Moe where two men on the street produced a knife to steal a wallet. Police say it was potentially linked to the teen offenders.
  • Assault with baseball bat in Bonbeach at 10.45pm. A victim was assaulted with a baseball bat by four youths. Victim was also threatened with a knife.
  • Two armed robberies in Noble Park at 11.15pm. Two victims were threatened with a baseball and a knife and their phones stolen.
  • Hit and run at Mulgrave at 11.40pm. A white Suzuki SUV, which several escapees had been travelling in, was involved in a collision with another vehicle and dumped at the intersection of Springvale and Wellington roads in Mulgrave.
  • Armed robbery at 12.30am outside Sexyland in Hallam. Knife was used to threaten.
  • Aggravated burglary at 2.30am on Mitcham where offenders smashed in the front door. Carrying a machete, they threatened the residents and stole a silver Mercedes. Believed to be linked to the youths arrested in Ashburton. 

Mr Patton said none of the victims sustained injuries. "But the trauma of such a thing would be horrendous," he said.

Mr Patton said the three youths on the run were potentially in a blue Ford XR6 sedan, but police believe the numberplates have been changed.

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He said members of the public should not approach them and instead, call triple zero.

"I'm of the understanding they've got warnings for violence and weapons and given the crimes that have occurred overnight, they're fairly dangerous," Mr Patton said.

The fugitive taskforce – police who specialise in finding wanted people – has been called in.

An arrest in Moondarra, in Gippsland, may be connected. Police were tailing a car in Stuart Mine Road at 9am on Thursday morning when a man got out of the car and fled into bushland. One man, who was not one of the escapees, was arrested. However police says it's still unclear if another man who fled the scene is one of the fugitives. 

Mr Patton said police had to make an application to the head of the Children's Court to release the names and photos of the three fugitives.

He told 3AW earlier the process was "a lot slower than I would have liked".

As part of the process, police have prepared an affidavit, which is now with Victoria Police lawyers.

About 30 inmates rioted at the centre at 2.45pm on Wednesday. A number of youths assaulted a staff member and gained access to his car keys and security cards.

They used the swipe cards to gain access to an unsecured area, where they jimmied open a sally port - the entryway into the prison - a source said.

The source said 15 youths piled into a ute, rammed a fence and escaped. They dumped the ute and car-jacked three other cars, ramming other vehicles and prompting police pursuits.

The escapees led police on two high-speed pursuits of up to 160km/h, before police were called off.

Six of the escapees were arrested after a pursuit in the Bendigo area which finished at Lockwood, where a police vehicle and a stolen vehicle were involved in a collision.

"We've been getting bagged a fair bit lately for our pursuit policy," Mr Patton said.

"But the policy allowed us to go hard on these people and enables members to pursue when there's a risk to public safety."

Some of the escapees allegedly rammed a car on the Calder Freeway, terrifying a couple and their young grandchild.

Ray Blackmore told 9NEWS several youths carrying iron bars leapt from a vehicle which rammed his car on Wednesday afternoon.

"This other vehicle came across the median strip and came straight towards us," Mr Blackmore said.

"We realised once they jumped out of the ute with iron bars that we were in trouble."

One of the youths shook the passenger car door where Mr Blackmore's wife, Judy, was sitting.

She believed the group stopped when they realised their young grandchild, Ally, was also a passenger in the car.

"As soon as they spotted her, they backed off," she told Channel Nine.

Two others who escaped the Malmsbury facility on foot were found walking shirtless through paddocks about five kilometres from the detention centre.

Malmsbury remains in lockdown, and Ms Mikakos said police would remain at the Malmsbury centre until repairs were made to the facility. 

The riot was described by a source as "the worst they had ever experienced" at the problem-plagued correction centre.

"Clients were bashing at the door with chair legs and other weapons, then used the swipe to open the door," the source said.

The source said the youths stole keys and a swipe card from a guard, before a "code white" (a riot) was called.

Police confirmed the riot started after a number of youths assaulted a staff member and gained access to his keys. The staff member received minor injuries in the incident, police said.

On Wednesday, Fairfax Media revealed that the Andrews government was warned in an explosive secret report months before the latest riots in Victoria's youth prisons that the system was spiralling out of control in "a continued and ongoing threat to the safety of staff and clients"

- with Neelima Choahan and Richard Willingham

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