Law enforcement officers in the capital of Australia have published new information regarding a violent security incident that shook a major defence industry event, as the investigation is ongoing into what authorities have termed an attempt, which seems to be a deliberate attack on the facility.

The Hyatt Hotel, located in Canberra, where theannual ADM Congress, one of the major defence conferences attended by government and industry leaders, was being held, was thrown into a police operation on the morning of 18 February after police officers responded to a disturbance report.

Police Detective Inspector Dave Craft of the ACT Policing department first took calls at approximately 9 a.m. and reported that at the back of the hotel, two men were hurling rocks and a suspicious piece of equipment through doors and breaking windows.

One of the crime scenes was spotted and cordoned off, as reported by Detective Inspector Craft to the media. He refused to discuss what object in question was thrown but said it was not an explosive one.

An ACT Policing spokesperson also confirmed that there were no injuries reported, and there is a lack of any evidence of a threat to the safety of the population.

Breaking: Defence conference in Canberra has been evacuated during a speech by Minister@PatConroy1- believed to be because of a suspicious [email protected]/VoKC3ffthO

It got out of control around noon when officers found a number of unattended baggage in one of the conference rooms in the hotel. To be on the safe side, the officers isolated the area in an attempt to evacuate the participants from the room before introducing specialist bomb squad officers.

'Those bags were processed and cleared by our bomb staff and also police,' explained Detective Inspector Craft. Those who had the baggage were found, and afterward the conference commenced again.

Even though the police cleared the bags and found them to have no threat, they stressed that the discovery helped in the increased security response.

'We believe that this was obviously targeted in some way, shape or form. Police don't have any [ongoing] concerns for the premises here at the hotel ... or for future planned protest activity, which may occur later this afternoon,' Detective Inspector Craft said in an important remark.

Source: International Business Times UK