Melbourne Hub: Truckie who brought Melbourne to a standstill had explosive device strapped to ...

Police attended reports truck broke down, forcing 150 people from their car

Man, 35, sent Melbourne streets into chaos with suspected explosive strapped to head

Man fled veered into oncoming traffic at high speeds down Monash Freeway

Published: 17:53 EST, 21 May 2014 | Updated: 00:48 EST, 22 May 2014

A deranged truck driver with an apparent explosive strapped to his head caused pandemonium in Melbourne this morning, forcing a freeway to close and people to evacuate cars.

Police evacuated about 150 motorists from their vehicles and shut the Monash Freeway for three hours following the pursuit of a 35-year-old South Caulfield with 'psychiatric issues.'

After a short pursuit at speeds of up to 100km/hr into oncoming traffic, police managed to stop the man but noticed a suspicious device believed to be an explosive strapped to his head.

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Chaos: A 35-year-old Melbourne man forced the Monash Freeway into lockdown this morning after telling police he was carrying a bomb

Man arrested in Melbourne for carrying a fake explosive

After a short period of negotiations the man took off his clothes and surrendered to police.

The Bomb Response Unit checked the device he was wearing and confirmed that it was not a bomb.

Detective Acting Sen-Sgt Martin Bourke told The Herald Sun the man could easily have caused a disastrous crash.

'It was incredibly risky ... if we had trucks going 100km/h in each direction colliding that would have caused major issues and we probably would have had some fatalities,' he said.

While the driver was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol he was having difficulty making a sense.

'Clearly he had psychiatric issues and that’s being evaluated,' he said.

No threats were made to police during the incident and Sen-Sgt Bourke said the truck driver, who had no criminal record, had not explained his actions.

Roads were re-opened at about 7am. However, the incident, which began at about 4am, caused major delays during the morning peak period.

'It's like closing Sydney Harbour Bridge, you know how disastrous it can be,' 3AW's Neil Mitchell told Today.

The man, from Caulfield South, was arrested at the scene following a stand-off with police which lasted about an hour.

'When officers arrived, they located what appeared to be a suspicious device strapped to the driver,' a statement from Victoria police read.

Police ordered an exclusion zone around the scene near Toorak Rd at Glen Iris and the Bomb Response Unit was called.

An area around the truck was cordoned off by police, and around 150 motorists evacuated back to a safe distance.

The inbound lanes of the Monash Freeway were blocked off at Warrigal Road while drivers were advised to use Dandenong Road, Queens Road and Kingsway to get into the city.

The Age reported the man faces a number of potential charges including recklessly endangering life.