Victoria Police have made an arrest in the alleged abduction of a schoolboy from Melbourne’s Glen Eira College and officers say more arrests are imminent.
Police arrested a 14-year-old boy on Thursday about 2pm in relation to Monday’s brutal attack in Glen Huntly, where a 14-year-old boy was allegedly forced into a Volkswagen Tiguan after school.
A short time later, police allege the boy was dumped from the vehicle near the intersection of Grange Road.
He sustained life-altering injuries in the attack and remains in hospital in a serious condition.
The police arrested the 14-year-old Frankston South boy in Frankston and said the teen was assisting them with their inquiries.
Inspector Scott Dwyer alleged the Frankston boy was a known youth gang member and the principal offender in Monday’s abduction.
“We have identified all those persons we believe responsible for that attack and their arrests are imminent,” he said.
“In the next couple of hours, there will be further arrests and then further still over the next coming days.”
He alleged the offenders had targeted multiple boys.
“I want to reassure our community, especially the mums and dads, the kids are safe to walk to school,” he said.
He said the police had dispatched extra patrols to key locations to give parents comfort and deter any potential crime.
Inspector Dwyer said youth crime, classified between the ages of 10-24, was lower than 2020 pre-Covid levels, though he said there had been an uptick in the 10-17 range.
Inspector Dwyer said Victoria had 598 youth gang members from 44 gangs.
He alleged the Frankston boy belonged to one of the 44 gangs.
“That is significantly down on where we were three years ago, where there were 747,” he said.
He said the police were “dealing” with youth crime in the state.
“We don’t want people to be alarmed,” he said.
“We are in there with them.”
He said it was too soon to say schools were being targeted for armed robberies.