Operation Roam: Police launch national manhunt to catch Victoria’s most wanted fugitives
THESE 10 fugitives are among the most elusive in Australia, suspected of crimes ranging from underworld murder plots to drug trafficking and sex assaults.
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THESE 10 fugitives are among the most elusive in Australia.
They are suspected of crimes ranging from underworld murder plots to sex assaults, drug trafficking, robberies and brutal beatings — and police believe the public can help track them down.
Crime Stoppers and Victoria Police will today launch a nationwide manhunt codenamed Operation Roam, which runs until August 28.
Twenty suspects have been identified across the nation, none more dangerous than convicted murderer and suspected hitman Graham Gene Potter.
In July 2008, Potter fled while on bail for allegedly conspiring to murder for the mafia — including an underworld figure at a wedding and a businessman at the Reggio Calabria Club, Parkville.
His alleged plan unravelled miserably on both occasions.
He uses the aliases Peter Anderson and Josh Lawson.
A warrant is out for his arrest, plus 19 other men whom police are seeking.
Among them are Wade Mackenzie, 26, Robert Douglas Cairns, 48, and Duc Luu, 35, who are also wanted for crimes allegedly committed in Victoria.
A total of 63,354 calls and reports to Crime Stoppers Victoria between July 2014 and July 2015 this year led to 1455 arrests, up by 175 arrests on the previous year.
Crime Stoppers Victoria chief executive Sam Hunter said the community held the key to finding out these targets’ whereabouts.
“There is always someone in the community who knows where these people are living — they may have assumed normal life in your local suburb,” Ms Hunter said.
Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Stephen Fontana said fugitives might have crossed state borders and be living in Victoria.
A reward of up to $1000 is offered for information that leads to the arrest of the wanted persons.
WADE MACKENZIE
DATE OF BIRTH: May 25,1989
HEIGHT: 173cm
BUILD: Medium
EYES: Brown/Hazel
HAIR: Brown
COMPLEXION: Fair
IT IS alleged Mackenzie was involved in an assault offence in Mordialloc, Victoria, in June 2013, where a baseball bat was used to seriously injure the victim.
GRAHAM GENE POTTER
DATE OF BIRTH: October 17,1957
HEIGHT: 175cm
BUILD: Medium
EYES: Brown
HAIR: Brown (greying)
COMPLEXION: Fair
POTTER was allegedly involved in conspiring to murder and drug trafficking in July 2008.
The dangerous criminal was last seen in Tully in Queensland in August 2010.
It is believed that Potter has more recently been in the Riverina in New South Wales and also uses the alias of Peter Anderson and Josh Lawson.
ROBERT DOUGLAS CAIRNS
DATE OF BIRTH: May 26, 1967
HEIGHT: 175cm
BUILD: Obese
EYES: Hazel
HAIR: Bald
COMPLEXION: Fair
IT IS alleged Cairns was involved in breach of parole in Victoria. His prior convictions are for aggravated burglary, theft, make threats to kill, weapons offences and serious assaults.
DUC LUU
DATE OF BIRTH: September 10, 1979
HEIGHT: 160cm
BUILD: Thin
EYES: Brown
HAIR: Black
COMPLEXION: Dark
LUU is wanted in relation to breaching his parole in Victoria.
He has prior convictions for trafficking cannabis, theft and cultivating a narcotic plant.
HOA XUAN BUI
DATE OF BIRTH: August 22, 1968
HEIGHT: 175cm
BUILD: Medium
EYES: Brown
HAIR: Black
COMPLEXION: Fair
IT IS alleged BUI was involved in the importation of prohibited drugs with the intent to sell or supply them into Perth in January, 2014.
MICHAEL DAVISON TILLMAN
DATE OF BIRTH: 16th October 1971
HEIGHT: 175cm
BUILD: Muscular
EYES: Green
HAIR: Light brown
COMPLEXION: Fair
POLICE allege Tillman was involved in an attempted murder in Surfers Paradise in Queensland during September, 2010.
He is also alleged to have been involved in an altercation at Benowa, Queensland in August, 2011, where he is said to have bitten another person causing grievous bodily harm.
KENNETH ROBERT COOK
DATE OF BIRTH: Feb. 2, 1968
HEIGHT: 176cm / 5’9”
BUILD: Medium
EYES: Brown
HAIR: Brown
COMPLEXION: Fair
IT IS alleged that over a period of time between 1996 and 2002 Cook committed numerous sexual assaults in Queensland.
LESLIE GORDON SHARP
DATE OF BIRTH: March 3, 967
HEIGHT: 180cm
BUILD: Proportionate
EYES: Brown
HAIR: Brown
COMPLEXION: Dark
SHARP was convicted in 1999 for the offences of attempted murder, deprivation of liberty, sexual assault and rape in Queensland. He was sentenced to imprisonment and later released on parole and later vanished.
He is wanted for failing to report in compliance with his parole order.
BRADY RALPH HAMILTON
DATE OF BIRTH: March 18,1968
HEIGHT: 185cm
BUILD: Medium
EYES: Blue/grey
HAIR: Ginger
COMPLEXION: Fair
It is alleged Hamilton was involved in a homicide in Sydney on the August 1999.
ANTHONY SITAR
DATE OF BIRTH: November 28, 1979
HEIGHT: 187cm
BUILD: Medium
EYES: Brown
HAIR: Black
COMPLEXION: Olive
IT IS alleged Sitar was involved in multiple commercial drug importations into Australia on October 11, 2011.
CONTACT CRIME STOPPERS IN CONFIDENCE ON 1800 333 000, BUT IF YOU SEE ONE OF THOSE PICTURED, CALL 000 IMMEDIATELY