The Snitch: Min Lin was murdered 6 weeks after witnessing $1m armed robbery

Which witness was murdered six weeks after witnessing a robbery? Where was a dead gangster’s secret meeting place? And how many millions does a dead liquidator owe? The Snitch is here

The Lin family murders — where Epping newsagent Min Lin and four family members were brutally killed by a relative while they slept — were one of the most despicable tragedies in Australia’s history.

It can now be revealed that six weeks before he died, Mr Lin was a witness to another major crime.

On May 28, 2009, The Epping Club on Rawson Street was the scene of a major armed holdup. Balaclava-clad men armed with assault rifles ordered Chubb guards to lay on the ground while they stole more than $1m cash from a transit van outside the club before fleeing the scene in a stolen BMW.

Mr Lin’s newsagency was across the road from the robbery and he was working at the time and saw the whole scene unfold.

The 45-year-old gave a statement to investigating police that day and described the chilling scenes where the armed men were yelling at the terrified Chubb guards.

Min Lin was behind the counter of his Epping newsagency when he saw balaclava-clad men robbing a cash-in-transit van outside The Epping Club.

The men stole $1.09m from the popular local club on May 28, 2009.

“I saw three persons moving down Rawson St,” Mr Lin told police. “They were moving quickly … Two of these persons were carrying long firearms like rifles. The third person had a hand gun.

“They had their weapons raised and were pointing them towards the Chubb security van which was parked right outside the Epping Club.

“ … They seemed confident in what they were doing.”

Mr Lin also played the role of a good Samaritan.

There was one person in his shop and Mr Lin called for them to hide with him behind the shop counter.

On July 18, 2009, Mr Lin, his wife, their two sons, and sister-in-law were bludgeoned to death as they slept inside his North Epping home by his brother-in-law Lian Bin “Robert” Xie.

In 2017, Xie was ordered to serve five life sentences and then lost an appeal against his murder convictions in 2021.

FAT-HEAD HIDE-OUT

We’re learning more about the lengths murdered drug boss Alen Moradian was taking in an attempt to avoid his killers.

Moradian, a flashy drug baron known as “Fat-head”, who sported a mouth full of gold teeth and once spent $1m decking out his entire West Pennant Hills home with floor-to-ceiling Versace gear, knew his killers were coming.

Alen Moradian in prison.

The unassuming Kimpton Hotel in Sydney.

As such, the 48-year-old was very particular about the locations of where he was prepared to meet people.

They had to be either high security or nowhere that was visible to the street — so no restaurants with floor-to-ceiling windows and so forth.

We’re told one of the places he would meet people was the Kimpton Hotel in Sydney’s CBD.

The Pitt St hotel fit Moradian’s style, with a high-class fit-out and a glamorous open-air rooftop pool.

But most important to Moradian was the hotel’s street frontage.

From the outside, the Kimpton is about as nondescript as it gets. (Maybe second to the NSW Crime Commission on Kent St, which could do with some signage or branding).

So once Moradian was in, he felt safe, a source said.

It was a short-term fix.

He was gunned down inside the carpark of the Bondi unit block where he was hiding out.

SPIRALLING MONEY TRAIL

As liquidators unpick the affairs of deceased finance worker Sam Henderson, Snitch has been told the amount of unpaid tax is set to eclipse $300m.

Henderson called the shots on a large collection of companies that were run to avoid paying massive amount PAYG and GST taxes.

It is similar to the operation run by $105 million tax fraudster Adam Cranston.

Liquidators are now tracking down all of the companies and possible dummy directors and we are told the number continues to climb dramatically.

Henderson was found dead inside the Vibe Hotel in North Sydney on April 4.

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