The people who blew up a Dubbo street post box in the early hours of yesterday morning could have killed themselves, according to Dubbo Fire Brigade station officer Steve Knight.
The explosion woke local residents who rang triple-0.
Police and the Fire Brigade attended the incident at the intersection of Tamworth Street and Sterling streets.
“The top of the letterbox was located around 30 metres from the letterbox,” Orana Local Area Command Inspector Matt Scott said.
When police and firefighters arrived about 12.30am, smoke was rising from what was left of the postal box.
“It appears that some sort of explosive device had been placed in the letterbox, causing (it) to be blown apart,” Inspector Scott said.
Station officer Knight said the offence was “very dangerous”.
“They could have blown their hand off, they could have killed someone, it could have been a fatality,” he said.
Hannah Mahy was woken abruptly by the loud explosion.
She was in Dubbo for the night before shopping for a wedding dress yesterday.
Ms Mahy was staying with a friend on Tamworth Street across the road from the street posting box.
“I live on a property in Hargraves so I’m not used to noises like that in the middle of the night,” she said.
“We were fast asleep and we heard the bang. It was loud enough to wake us right up.
“It sounded like it was directly out the front of the house. There were alarms going off afterwards.”
Australia Post spokesperson Scott McIntyre said a small amount of mail that was inside the posting box was damaged.
Where possible, the mail will be forwarded on with a letter of apology and explanation, he said.
Mr McIntyre said tampering and interfering with Australia Post’s street posting boxes was a criminal offence under the Commonwealth Criminal Code and carried a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment.
“We encourage all residents to keep an eye on their local street posting box and to be vigilant in identifying and reporting any suspicious activity to police on 1800 333 000,” he said.
“Australia Post takes all incidents of this nature very seriously, not only because of the impacts on local residents and their mail, but also because incidents involving fire and explosions pose a real risk to our staff and the public’s safety.”
As well as the disruption to community services, street postal vandalism may mean that important documents or items are lost, Mr McIntyre said.
“Residents may be inconvenienced by having to resend letters and in some cases sentimental items such as photos, may be lost forever.”
Police are speaking to witnesses in relation to the incident and investigations are continuing, Inspector Scott said.
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