An Australian couple found themselves the target of death threats and a car bomb after they beeped at another vehicle in a drive-thru.
While they were picking up food at a McDonald's in Wollongong NSW on February 22, a woman allegedly veered dangerously close to the unnamed couple's ute. When they honked their horn, she became angry and confronted them in the drive-thru.
The couple drove away unscathed, but it wasn't the last they would hear from the aggressive driver, who was so offended at being beeped at she followed them to record their license plate.
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She went home and told her partner, and even complained to Wollongong police about the incident, the Daily Mail reports.
The day after the McDonald's altercation, the couple found the window of their Ford Rodeo had been smashed.
Over the next few weeks they received a torrent of online abuse and threats, which they reported to the Fixated Persons Investigations Unit (FPIU) which targets "lone wolf extremists" believed to be a future terrorism threat.
Things escalated on March 5 when their ute was blown up. A "sophisticated" explosive had been placed on the vehicle while it was parked in the couple's driveway.
It only partially destroyed the car, but Detective Superintendent Michael McLean from the FPIU said the explosion was powerful enough to kill.
"This was an act of grievance-fuelled violence," he told local media, adding that the culprits had used "ingenious" methods to track down the victims.
Two people were arrested on Tuesday (local time) at a local BP station in relation to the bomb. Police arrested a 33-year-old man and later his 31-year-old female partner, and also seized a pipe bomb, drone and baton while searching their car and house.
The man has been charged with two counts of using a carriage service to threaten serious harm, two counts of stalk or intimidate, using a carriage service to threaten to kill, destroying or damaging property, placing an explosive in or near a vehicle, threatening a witness and two counts of possessing or using a prohibited weapon. He will appear in court on Wednesday (local time).
The woman has been charged with accessory after the fact to stalk or intimidate and destroying or damaging property, and will appear in court on May 22.
Newshub.
