A terrified young family has been forced from their car by a group of men armed with a machete, leading to a three-hour police pursuit across Sydney's west.
Two of the men began their rampage around 12.45pm on Saturday when they forced a woman out of her Toyota Corolla in the inner west suburb of Abbotsford, NSW Police say.
Officers pursued the car but abandoned the chase when it became too dangerous.
Fifteen minutes later, police were alerted a family had been forced from a black BMW SUV some 20km away at Guildford West.
The family, like the woman, reported one of the men was armed with a machete.
Police trailed the SUV for more than three hours as it drove west to the Blue Mountains, then doubled back to the Fairfield and Liverpool areas.
Several public safety alerts were issued on social media as the police chopper monitored the SUV.
The BMW continued to Homebush in Sydney's inner west, before crashing into another vehicle a few kilometres away at Guildford. The occupants of that car are uninjured, police say.
Police arrested three men in the SUV, with charges expected.
