HE was the teacher, they were his students, and the class he was allegedly leading was: “How to make millions robbing armoured cash trucks.”
The teacher, a fearless Sydney criminal who cannot legally be identified, was fresh out of jail and full of confidence after being found not guilty of a string of hold-ups on cash vans where $6 million was stolen and only about $500,000 ever recovered.
After being released in November 2012, he was allegedly running out of money after spending a fortune on Rolex watches, sports cars and renting a luxury Harbourside apartment and began offering his services as a freelance armed robbery coach.
For an undisclosed reward, prosecutors allege he sat down with two clients and helped them plan an armed hold-up, teaching them the most effective methods to ensure the highest chance of success.
The second part of the deal was that he would do the hold-up with them and call the shots to ensure success, according to documents tendered to the Downing Centre District Court.
The planning meeting allegedly occurred on February, 24, 2013, in the visitors section of Lithgow Jail.
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Sitting at the table with the teacher were two members of one of Sydney’s most feared Middle Eastern crime families who were eager to learn his secrets, the documents said.
One was an inmate whose bail was refused on unrelated charges. The other was set to take part in a robbery the mentor was allegedly helping them plan. Their identities have also been suppressed.
The teacher allegedly explained his experience from the armed robberies — where six armoured trucks were robbed in Sydney by masked men who got away in stolen sports cars — had elevated him to the status of being a guru in the field.
With his help, they could allegedly collect up to $6 million from each truck they robbed.
At one point in the meeting, he allegedly told his prospective students: “Trust me, I’m a professional with that stuff.”
The inmate allegedly responded: “I hope you are … That’s why I need you, bro.”
The teacher’s expertise allegedly included knowledge of when the trucks would be carrying the most cash and the best method of intercepting the guards.
He also allegedly coached them on counter surveillance techniques, how to escape the sights of the NSW Police helicopter, and why police can track you using the “isotopes” in sprays and fragrances like Tommy Hilfiger, the documents said.
His advice also extended to the models of sports cars use in the robberies and how to steal them and why stolen numbers plates should be used.
“I try and do it as smart as possible,” he allegedly said.
“You don’t do it in your own car, you go in someone else’s car, you cover your numberplates, you burn the beast after it,” he allegedly said.
“You do it in a hottie only and it has to be a beast and it has to get burnt straight afterwards.”
If all went to plan, the return could be up to $6 million per truck.
“One or two million. But minimum one,” he allegedly told the students.
“But max like five, six (million), minimum … if we get it properly you know.”
When one of the students asked how he knew the trucks wouldn’t be carrying only $100,000, he scoffed: “You might as well go in a milk truck if you’re gonna carry that much.”
“(The trucks we will target are) the ones that pick up the banks,” he allegedly said.
“I watched one that done like four ATMs. Just say every one of them was full. That’s $1.5 (million) … for one run for two hours.”
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And his secret weapon: a police scanner allegedly bought for $22,000. This allegedly allowed him to listen to police communication.
“Huge difference man, huge,” he said at a second jail meeting on March 5, 2013.
“Oh, they’re headed this way. Bang, we go the opposite way.”
According to the teacher, the best hold-up method was to back a stolen car into the front of a parked cash truck, the documents said.
He corrected one of the men who suggested a car at either end was best.
“Nah, just one … bang its front (this will) stop it anyway. It’s easy,” he allegedly said.
The teacher said the guards would quickly succumb and hand over the cash.
“Mate, once you hit and those airbags … go off straight away, they’re gonna shit themselves,” he allegedly said.
“What are they gonna do? Keep ramming (our car) up the road.”
When it came to game time, his alleged talk did not translate into results.
The teacher, one of the Middle Eastern men and two others allegedly hit an armoured truck in Sydney’s inner city but netted no cash when they couldn’t get inside.
You don’t do it in your own car, you go in someone else’s car, you cover your numberplates, you burn the beast after it
Much of the detail cannot be revealed because the teacher is still to stand trial over the robbery.
The daylight robbery took place in front of shocked workers who saw masked men hold-up the truck with an assault rifle while one fired a shot near the head of a guard.
The getaway car was a sports car stolen in a midnight raid from a $4 million mansion where the owner asked the carjackers to take his golf clubs out of the car before they drove off, but was ignored, court documents said.
The teacher’s streak of good fortune prior to the failed robbery has since ended.
The not guilty findings in the earlier robberies could be erased thanks to a police listening device planted under the table at Lithgow Jail, which recorded him admitting to committing the hold-ups.
The teacher was found guilty of perjury and will be sentenced this month. His lawyer Simon Joyner has written to the Director of Public Prosecutions to clarify whether the prosecuting office is “seeking to relitigate my client for the armed robbery offences,” the District Court was told.
Trust me, I’m a professional with that stuff
The six earlier robberies included two hits on trucks at North Sydney where more than $2 million was stolen, another at Potts Point that netted $340,000.
A hold-up of the Epping Club saw more than $1 million stolen while the most daring was a raid of the Lane Cove Chubb base where robbers stole about $2 million and rammed a hijacked cash truck through the security fence before firing a machine gun at approaching security personnel.
An unsuccessful raid of a truck in front of shocked private schoolboys at Cranbrook only returned $2935.
The Middle Eastern man pleaded guilty to his role in the failed robbery and was sentenced to maximum 10 years in jail at Goulburn District Court in February.
In his brief stint out of jail, the teacher solidified his status as one of the state’s most feared men when he shot the aunt of a feared gang leader. He was jailed but has appealed.
At the end of the second meeting, the three men were in agreement: the alleged robbery had to be executed to perfection.
If it wasn’t?
“Then (we’re) going to the Supermax,” the teacher allegedly said.
According the court documents, the teacher told his students that life as an armed robber was easier since he bought the police scanner.
“I was doing them before when, you know before we had no scanners … sitting in a car for four hours, waiting, doing everything, sitting there just waiting with no, no scanner,” he allegedly said.
“Imagine now with a scanner how easy it is.”
Earlier, the Middle Eastern man who was jailed for the robbery spruiked the value of the police scanner.
“(It’s got) every suburb. Full set of channels,” he said.
“That’s why you can search through it … It’s hectic, you can hear everything. Everything.”
In terms of getaway cars, the teacher had a penchant for European luxury. Think Audis, BMWs or Mercedes. But a 4WD would do if times were tough.
“I know how to steal them,” he allegedly said.
“You just put a wrench on the end … Worst comes to worst you get a 4WD, a Pajero or something like that.”
For the inner city robbery, he allegedly planned to get an AR-15 assault rifle but had to settle for a lesser model that was bought for $22,000.
“It … looks hectic, it’s not auto but semi auto,” he allegedly told the Middle Eastern men.
“It took M16 bullets, .223 (calibre bullets).”
According to the teacher, knowing when the police were following you is a tricky science and he allegedly told his apprentices only a keen eye could pick up surveillance police.
“It’s called surveillance branch,” he allegedly said.
“So it could be an old man. Like a retired copper, a 50, 60-year-old man.
“You won’t pick them as coppers at all,” he allegedly said.
“They’ll drive an old car. They’re on radios to each other and that … you can have like five different coppers following you.
“One could be at your house, he’s the spotter at your house.
“The next one will be in another street one you … if they lose you they’ll wait for you back at your house again, or at your girl’s house, or at your cousin’s house.”
When you live life with police on your tail, an unhealthy level of paranoia is an inevitable by-product.
The teacher demonstrated the extent of his edginess, during the meeting at Lithgow jail.
“Remember that stuff, it was in the paper years ago … isotopes, they can spray on your clothes and track you,” he allegedly told the Middle Eastern men.
“That’s for terrorism.”
“So your Tommy (Hilfiger fragrance), it’s a chemical, like radiation thing called isotopes.”