Update, 1:45pm: According to latest reports, helicopters have been called in to look for several people who ran from a Mercedes Benz that had earlier been pursued by police from Ross Lane to Byron Bay at high speed.
Sniffer dogs are reported to have left Paterson Street and moved further afield.
Original report: Shelley Drive and Paterson Streets, Byron Bay, are currently cordoned off to traffic as police with sniffer dogs search for several people who have taken off on foot following a police pursuit.
One Shelley Drive local told Echonetdaily she was driving home at around 11.30am and found the bottom of Patterson Street and Shelley Drive had been cordoned off by police.
‘I stopped and asked the police if I could drive through.
‘They said “yes, but please don’t get out of your car – we don’t the dogs to pick up your sent by accident”.
‘They said that if I came home I must stay inside.
‘They’re looking for some people who were involved in a car chase. They abandoned the car and took off on foot.
‘I called the police station and I still can’t leave the house yet,’ the resident said.
The lockdown follows the police pursuit of a Mercedes Benz from Ross Lane through Byron Bay earlier today.
Witnesses told local media the car was travelling at ‘at least 100kmph’ and at one stage took a corner at high speed on the wrong side of the road.
No injuries have been reported.
Byron police confirm that locals in the cordoned off area should remain inside their homes.
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