How the surprise arrest of Ben Roberts-Smith unfolded

When Ben Roberts-Smith boarded a plane from Brisbane to Sydney for a family holiday, he had no idea a group of officers would be waiting for him on the tarmac, ready to arrest the former soldier over alleged war crimes.

The decorated former special forces soldier was on Tuesday afternoon charged with five counts of war crime – murder – following a joint investigation between the Office of Special Investigator and the Australian Federal Police after five years of extensive investigations into the alleged killings of Afghan civilians.

Roberts-Smith has always denied any wrongdoing, and it is anticipated that he will fight criminal charges.

The 47-year-old, who has been living in a luxury Riverside serviced apartment in Brisbane’s South Bank, boarded his Qantas flight from Brisbane shortly after 9am on Tuesday, flanked by his girlfriend and twin teen daughters.

The family were dressed for a holiday, with Roberts-Smith wearing a pale-coloured cap, a blue button-up shirt, sneakers and jeans, and his girlfriend, Sarah Matulin, wearing a flowing white dress.

They are understood to have celebrated Easter weekend with Roberts-Smith’s parents, Len and Sue, visiting from Perth. His parents have always defended him.

The flight touched down slightly delayed at 11.15am. On the other side of the plane door, several Australian Federal Police officers stood waiting.

Gary, who asked for his surname to be withheld, was sitting in an adjacent row to Roberts-Smith near the front of the plane, noting his towering frame.

He said the plane sat on the tarmac for an extended period, with no announcements as to what was happening. He saw two police cars pull up on the tarmac beside the plane.

Once the doors opened, the officers strode onboard.

“Two gentlemen in suits got on the flight,” Gary said. They walked up to Roberts-Smith. One stood behind him, while the other crouched down speaking to him in a low voice.

Roberts-Smith had an “initial look of surprise, maybe slight bemusement”, Gary said.

After a brief chat, which Gary described as civil and professional, Roberts-Smith stood up and was escorted off the plane, with his girlfriend and children trailing behind.

He was not handcuffed.

“It’s very weird, very weird to know that there are very different lives being led on that plane, and very sad,” another passenger who witnessed the arrest told Nine News.

Another said it all unfolded quickly.“I had no idea what was happening,” she told Nine.

“It was a bit of a shock to see the commotion, [it was] very swift, in and out.”

Neither was aware that the man being led off the plane was a fallen war hero.

Flanked by a uniformed AFP officer and another official in a suit, Roberts-Smith was walked to an unmarked police SUV waiting on the tarmac.

His daughters walked behind, followed by Matulin, who had her phone to her ear. With a woven handbag dangling from her hand, it’s clear the family had no idea the fate that awaited them.

The trio got in a separate car to Roberts-Smith.

Roberts-Smith was driven to Mascot Police Station and later charged with five counts of war crime – murder. If he is denied bail by either police or the courts, he will spend his first night behind bars in the eight years since the damning allegations were first made public.

Read more on Ben Roberts-Smith’s arrest:

• Watch: Why Ben Roberts-Smith’s arrest is so historic for Australia
• Backgrounder: From war hero to accused serial killer: The unravelling of Ben Roberts-Smith
• What did Ben Roberts-Smith do? What courts already know about former SAS soldier’s alleged war crimes

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