EastLink used stolen registration on car used to execute brutal murder
As police hunt for the drivers of a grey Amarok twin-cab ute used in the brutal murder of Paul Virgona, it has been revealed that the registration details of the vehicle were stolen from an identical car sitting in a Brighton car yard.
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The EastLink hit team stole the identity of a car yard ute as part of their brutal murder of fruiterer Paul Virgona.
Homicide investigators this week asked for witnesses who had seen the killers using a grey Volkswagen Amarok – registered 1MC 9PG – in the period after Mr Virgona was shot dead as he drove on the freeway to work.
But the Sunday Herald Sun yesterday found a grey Amarok twin-cab ute with the same registration details as those released by police being sold at a Moorabbin used car business.
The 2018 model is available for $40,990 at Brighton Volkswagen on the Nepean Highway.
This raises the likelihood the killers, or someone who had earlier stolen the car, made fake plates with rego numbers copied from advertisements for the Moorabbin Amarok.
It is possible they then put them on a matching model so that vehicle would not come up as stolen if checked out on the road.
Police have not released details on where or when the Amarok used by the killers was stolen but it remains a key element of the complex Virgona investigation.
The Croydon businessman, 46, died as he drove his van to work along EastLink at 2.15am on November 9.
He was shot from a black Mercedes C200 – also bearing cloned plates – which pulled up alongside then sped off after a gunman on the passenger side sprayed the van with bullets near the Mullum Mullum tunnel.
The killers then torched that vehicle in Jaxlee Court, Mooroolbark, and drove away in the Amarok which they had earlier left there.
The pair were later spotted by police in Ferntree Gully and a five-minute high-speed pursuit followed.
The men abandoned the ute near the corner of Scoresby Rd and Mountain Highway and fled into the Marie Wallace Bayswater Park.
That meant any chance to destroy the Amarok with fire was gone.
It is not known what evidence specialists have been able to glean from the ute since it was taken to the Victoria Police forensic centre in Macleod.
They would hope to extract DNA or fingerprints to identify those responsible.
Investigators have also been gathering as much CCTV and dashcam footage as they can in the search for clues.
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Detectives are still searching for a motive for the murder of Mr Virgona, a hard-working father with no criminal record.
But the high degree of planning and extraordinary nature of the shooting indicate the possibility it was an organised crime hit.
Anyone with information on the murder of Paul Virgona can contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or visit the website.