Man, 56, taken into custody after alleged late-night crime spree across Sydney

A man described by police as ‘aggressive’ has been taken into custody after allegedly threatening several people with a knife while on a late-night crime spree across Sydney on Monday night.

Police endured a tense stand-off with the 56-year-old man at a home in Glebe last night, following a city-wide manhunt that included releasing the registration details of a car he allegedly stole at knifepoint.

The man is now under police guard at hospital.

CCTV footage shows a man approaching the owner of a Citroen C4 on Harris street in Ultimo at 9.30pm on Monday, threatening the driver with a knife before hopping in and driving away.

The owner did manage to grab his golf clubs from the boot before his car sped off.

“Clearly the actions of this person are not of someone who is of rational mind,” said Superintendent David Johnson.

An hour later, a man and woman were in their car outside a fast food restaurant on Concord Road in North Strathfield – 15km away from the first crime scene - when a man approached.

The couple told police he lunged at them with a knife, but they managed to drive away.

At 10.45pm reports came through to police of a man approaching two women, a 22 and 24-year-old with a knife outside a Rhodes restaurant on Rider Boulevard.

He tailed one inside towards a cinema, before re-emerging and robbing Utsav Bhujel and his colleague as they finished work for the night.

“When I stood up and tried to push him off at that time he showed me the knife, I was scared and I could not do anything,” said Mr Bhujel.

A couple sitting in a parked Audi RS6 on Rider Boulevard 300 metres away in Rhodes were the next alleged targets.

“With the knife in his hand, he flung the driver’s door open and threatened the pair who managed to escape with their car keys,” said Superintendent Johnson.

“He was quite agitated on all occasions, when he attempted to carjack these vehicles he was agitated, screaming at the drivers to get out,” he continued.

Police believe the string of incidents was the work of the same man.

The man was spotted in Newtown late Tuesday afternoon, but remained at large until the early hours of the morning.