Woman, two men allegedly tortured for days over missing $25 million of cocaine

Three kidnap victims were tortured over more than $25m of stolen cocaine, police claim, with fingers and toes chopped off in the horrific alleged attacks. Warning: Graphic.

It is alleged to be one of Sydney’s worst ever gangland kidnappings – toes and fingers chopped off and three people tortured – all over more than $25 million of stolen cocaine, police claim.

And the victim who allegedly suffered the most was a young woman held hostage for 48 hours before she was dumped hours from home half naked and taped to a tree in the middle of the night.

Police claim Anna Nguyen was snatched by an alleged drug dealer - who can only be legally identified as AN - in February last year, after he accused her of stealing 86 kilograms of cocaine.

Police allege he passed her on to a group of men were paid to torture her for two days, as they tried to work out the location of the cocaine.

A gun pressed to her head, punched and kicked repeatedly, one of the worst moments came when her captors allegedly held her down and cut her toes off with a bolt cutter.

Just some of the young woman’s injuries, including where she had her acrylic nails ripped off by her captors.

Her hair too was allegedly cut off by the crew, who then sent the videos to her husband.

Pictures of her severed toe were allegedly sent to her loved ones, as well as a barrage of frightening text messages, which can be revealed by the Sunday Telegraph for the first time.

The horror allegations have finally come to light just over a year after her close friend Terry Tran stumbled into a Greenacre industrial estate, bleeding from his amputated fingers and toes.

The scene the next morning after Mr Tran escaped. Picture: Christian Anstey

He asked for help from a nearby security guard. Picture: Christian Anstey

In court documents tendered to the NSW Supreme Court last week, it was revealed that it wasn’t just Mr Tran who had been kidnapped, but also Ms Nguyen and their friend Ibrahim Assaad.

THE FIRST KIDNAPPING

It was alleged the kidnappers worked their way through the trio, starting with Ms Nguyen as they tried to find the cocaine thief.

Police allege Ms Nguyen had been completing “dead drops” of drugs across Sydney for AN, when a huge haul of cocaine worth over $25 million was stolen.

AN allegedly blamed the theft on Ms Nguyen, and on Valentine’s Day last year – she was allegedly kidnapped and held in an Ermington basement, where her alleged captors tried to torture the location of the drugs out of her.

The alleged drug dealer, left, who can only be identified as “AN”.

Encrypted messages allegedly sent to her boyfriend Tommy Nguyen revealed exactly what they did to her – and the threats to kill her if her family contacted police.

“Listen mate she’s already plead f***ing guilty. If police are informed she is dead,” the kidnappers allegedly wrote.

Ms Nguyen’s partner was sent a picture of his girlfriend with a gun to her head with the words “you think we are joking.”

It’s alleged the kidnappers ordered him to find out where the drugs were – and if not, more attacks on Ms Nguyen would follow.

“OK five stomps on the head coming up. Show me you’re actually doing something or I’m taking a finger,” they allegedly wrote.

Police allege she was subjected to a series of horrors over 48 hours, including the men holding her down and cutting off her toes.

“I just cut off her toe … fingers next.

“Will you actually miss her if she’s gone? She seems like a real piece of s**t.”

The haphazard bandage her foot was left in.

While Ms Nguyen was being held captive, Mr Assaad – known as Ibby – was ordered to attend the same home, where he too was tortured – allegedly losing a finger to the kidnappers.

Mr Nguyen made the decision to attend a police station and reported the alleged kidnapping, showing detectives the pictures and messages he had received.

The crew of alleged captors dumped Ms Nguyen in bushland that night, taping her to a tree and ordering her not to move orher family would be killed.

At 6am the following morning, police were called to a home in Port Stephens – where Ms Nguyen had escaped to after breaking free from the tree.

She was taken to John Hunter Hospital and spent days receiving treatment for her injuries.

She had been tied to a tree for hours before freeing herself.

She then spent six days in hospital recovering.

“WE KNOW WHERE YOU STAY”

After allegedly dumping Ms Nguyen, the kidnappers turned their attention to Mr Tran – allegedly warning him that he was next via text message.

“Terry we know who you are, we know where you stay. We are 1000 strong you better give up the stuff,” the alleged text read.

Mr Tran didn’t know what the texts meant, but knew they had something to do with Ms Nguyen’s kidnapping and the missing cocaine, according to court documents.

He was allegedly then sent three photos, one showing a toe being held in a piece of tissue paper, one of Ms Nguyen having her hair cut by an unknown man, and another, showing her on a couch with her eyes and mouth taped shut.

At the same time, Mr Tran, who owns a luxury hire car company, was allegedly contacted by Jye Tuite – who claimed he wanted to purchase a vehicle from him for $50,000.

Distraught relatives of Mr Tran’s outside hospital after he escaped his captors. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

However, police allege it was a trick to recover the missing cocaine.

Tuite, Tristan Kini and three other accomplices – Viliami Eteaki, Sione Maile and Sione Fisiiahi laid in wait for Mr Tran who had travelled to St Marys to complete the car deal, allegedly pouncing on him and dragging him into a rented van when he arrived.

The inside of the van after police seized it.

He was allegedly punched and kicked by some of the men, before a shortened rifle was pointed in his face and he was bound at the wrists and ankles.

In the back of the van, a man allegedly stomped on his face while screaming “where is the stuff”.

The men allegedly told Tran his friend Ms Nguyen had given him up as the cocaine thief, and when he pleaded his innocence, they cut off his right and left little fingers.

Mr Tran managed to escape the kidnappers as they drove through Western Sydney after hours of alleged torture, stumbling towards Greenacre industrial area.

Mr Tran in hospital.

Just some of his horrific injuries.

He sat there bleeding from his amputated fingers and toes until a security officer found him and called police.

He was taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, suffering amputations of two fingers and a toe, burnt skin from a corrosive liquid that had been tossed in his face and bruises and lacerations to his body.

Ten days after Tran was tortured, Assad also arrived at RPA with a partially severed index finger.

SECRET RECORDINGS

In the months following the alleged kidnappings, police hunted those believed to be involved, using surveillance and phonetaps to track down the culprits.

Secret recordings of the alleged ringleader police say greenlit the kidnapping, Bryce Hollis, allegedly show him packing up his Bondi home and fleeing to Melbourne.

Bodybuilder Hollis, who is accused of organising the kidnapping.

When Viliami Eteaki and Sione Maile were charged police allege recordings reveals Hollis bemoaned to an associate about the “stupidity” of the crew he hired using their identification to hire vans used in the kidnappings.

Hollis is accused of financing and organising the alleged horrors on behalf of an organised crime network seeking to recoup their losses over the stolen drugs.

When the alleged kidnap crew were arrested Hollis was captured in the moments he fled to Melbourne.

It was allegedly over breakfast at the Coffee Club in Penrith that Hollis gave the crew the go ahead for the plan, with a promise people from overseas would wire them the money.

Identified as the secure message app Threema user “Criminal Warfare” by police, less than a week before Christmas Day 2023 Hollis handed himself into police after discussions with his lawyer Ahmed Dib.

Hollis, Eteaki, Jye Tuite, Tristan Kini, a man who can only be identified as AN, Sione Fisiiahi, Japeth Fasi and Sione Maile are all facing serious charges in relation to their alleged roles in the kidnappings.

Eteaki was granted bail in the Supreme Court last week after agreeing to house arrest, reporting daily to police, phone restrictions and a $30,000 surety.

Eteaki, who was granted bail last week.

“LEFT ME FOR DEAD”

Police intercepted calls from jail allegedly catching Kini, while in custody on remand, laughing with a friend about another inmate being charged with a “napping”.

“He got used, like me you know … you know how youse just put me in your mouth, you then chewed on me and spat me out. Left me for dead,” Kini says from jail, according to police documents.

“You know how youse just treat me like shit. You dump on me?”.

Hollis too, police allege, was caught on these calls as the trio in a “heightened state of panic and anxiety” discussed using the legally privileged AVL system to work through their stories.

Other recordings allegedly capture one of the men, Tuite, blowing through his share of the $120,000 the group were paid partying on the Gold Coast for three weeks.

Tuite pictured at an ATM in the lead up to the kidnapping.

According to the documents Tuite spent $35,000 in just two days on strippers, clothes and a new phone.

Police allege he was ordered to go to Thailand on the promise of an extra $100,000 after the kidnappings but didn’t have a passport.

He then returned to Sydney because he “didn’t want to stay in Queensland any more”, the court documents stated.

LOYALTIES

By this point, with eight men charged, the group of school mates and relatives who allegedly carried out the kidnappings lined up to give statements against each other.

According to court documents Tuite remains in protective custody inside jail after giving police a detailed statement about the events over those three days last year.

Tuite is one of three people charged who have either spoken to police or provided them with assistance in solving the case.

“He felt scared because he didn’t sign up for this. It looked like torture,” Tuite told police according to documents.

His friend, Fisiiahi, also gave a statement to police, while in an interview with police Fasi admitted to a limited involvement in the plot.

Police documents state word was getting around that one of the alleged kidnap crew was giving information to police.

FINDING THE INFORMANT

Police alleged two of the crew hatched a brazen plan to send “criminal associates” into the court hearings of the perceived informant to prevent them giving evidence.

The binds Terry Tran says he freed himself from the Friday night he escaped.

They claim “criminal associates” were paid by Eteaki to locate his friend and Maile’s cousin Fisiiahi at the hearing in Bankstown Local Court on November 16 last year.

Tactical squad police officers assembled ready to take in Eteaki and Maile later that day.

The operation was halted after police believed the criminal associates had been alerted and were arranging motel accommodation nearby.

Two days later the men were arrested at room 409 at Quest Apartments in Bella Vista where police seized more than $12,000 in cash and a Dedicated Encrypted Criminal Device.

Neither man has been charged with any offences in relation to the attempt to locate Fisiiahi in court.

CCTV vision captured the van used to transport Mr Tran to the home he was detained inside of.

One of the last things police allege AN said to Ms Nguyen before she was handed to her captors was: “After this I am going away. I am going to Vietnam.”

He made it as far as Sydney Airport before he was arrested attempting to board a flight to Thailand via Hong Kong.

He was charged with several offences including aggravated kidnapping and wound with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

The drugs would have had a street value of more than $120m though police claim the crime network planned to offload them for $25m.

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