Journalists are probably the only people who get excited about bad news. We try to contain it and act respectfully in situations of grief, but there’s nothing like a big disaster to get the juices flowing.
I took a call from The West Australian today, saying there was a Kalgoorlie connection to the London and Glasgow terror plots. The rumor was that police had raided a local house.
It sent a buzz through the newsroom and everyone started ringing police contacts and anyone else we thought might have a clue. Then we had a call it was a false alarm. How deflating.
We were all disappointed that Kalgoorlie didn’t have a terrorist!
Then we had another call, immediately verified, that Australian Federal Police Chief Commissioner Mick Keelty was giving a press conference in Canberra, and revealed that WA police had executed a search warrant at the Kalgoorlie Hospital as part of a joint operation involving London counter-terrorism command.
Good news, we had a story!
I can’t add much in terms of detail, but authorities have confirmed that four Indian-trained doctors are being interviewed in Western Australia.
