Man charged after attempted IED attack at a rally in Perth, Australia
A 31-year-old man has been arrested and charged on two counts following an investigation into an incident at an Indigenous rights rally involving a suspecting improvised explosive device in Perth, Australia, on Wednesday 26 January.
According to a statement from the Western Australia Police Force, the man, who was attending a public rally of some 2,500 people, removed a device from his bag and threw it into the crowd from a first-floor walkway before fleeing the scene. The device did not detonate on impact.
A witness is understood to have picked up the device and given it to police, who subsequently evacuated the area and quickly identified and arrested the suspect.
"Specialist officers from the Western Australia Police Bomb Response Unit and forensic officers attended the scene and examined the item," the statement read. "It was confirmed to be a homemade improvised explosive device containing a mixture of volatile and potentially explosive chemicals, with nails and metal ball bearings affixed to the exterior."
"A subsequent search of the man’s home was conducted, where it is further alleged a combination of chemicals and materials consistent with the manufacture of homemade explosives was located."
Hidden in a Frozen Disney sock
Speaking to ABC Radio Perth, the witness, who did not wish to be identified, said: "My colleague and I were standing pretty close to the stage…there were about three or four girls standing about a half a metre in front of us…and all of a sudden this object kind of sailed through the air."
"It hit one of the girls on the leg and then landed on the ground. It was alarming so I immediately looked up to see where it had come from and then I looked at the object. It was an Elsa sock — the Frozen character Elsa — a kid sock, and inside it was stuff, I don't know what, but I didn't touch it."
"There was no smouldering, nothing, but it just seemed odd," the woman said, adding that she had a feeling it could be "dangerous".
"I picked it up very cautiously and held it at arm's length from myself," she said, handing it over to nearby police officers.
Potential to kill and injure many people
Speaking to the media about the incident, Western Australia police commissioner Col Blanch described the device as a "fragment bomb".
"We're still waiting for full chemical analysis, but I can confirm the preliminary tests showed that there were three compounds involved," he told ABC Radio Perth, adding that the device contained a liquid. "We are able to say that it is an explosive device, we will call this an improvised explosive device."
"Now if that liquid or the compounds ignited, what was wrapped around the container was screws — nails and ball bearings, a combination of them — and if it had of ignited and exploded then those nails and ball bearings would have no doubt been ejected at very high rate of speed," Col Blanch said. "It had the potential to explode and injure many people or kill them."
He also described the device as "fairly rudimentary" and about the size of a medium coffee cup.
The man has been charged with an unlawful act or omission with intent to harm, and making or possession of explosives under suspicious circumstances. Bail was refused and he is due to appear before the Perth Magistrates Court on Tuesday 27 January 2026.
