Australia’s most wanted criminals, on the run and being hunted by police
These criminal masterminds - with links to Australia - are on the run and being hunted by international police for their devious and heinous crimes. Do you know them?
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They’re among the world’s most wanted criminals - responsible for some of the most devious and heinous crimes - and they’ve got links to Australia.
And, they’re on the run; hiding out.
These criminal masterminds are being hunted by international police but have so far managed to avoid detection and capture.
Included on Interpol’s (short for International Criminal Police Organisation) most wanted list are attempted murderers, drug traffickers, swindlers and celebrity tax cheats.
Some are wanted in countries including Russia, China and Vietnam.
Each of them – including foreign fugitives wanted for crimes in Australia – have ‘red notices’ against their name and have been put on the radar of every enforcement agency worldwide.
These crooks are smart and have managed to go undetected for years.
But even the smallest slip up could end it all – with foreign agencies on high alert to arrest and extradite them at any moment.
Here are the faces and crimes of Interpol’s most wanted
PHILIP JEPSON EGGLISHAW
Date of birth: 28/08/1953 (67 years old)
Place of birth: Jersey, United Kingdom
Distinguishing marks and characteristics: Receding hairline, balding, moustache.
Height: 1.75 metres
Weight: 80 kilograms
Colour of hair: Black
Colour of eyes: Blue
Crimes: Known as the ‘Bowler Hat Englishman’, Egglishaw is wanted over one of Australia’s largest tax evasion and money-laundering schemes.
The smooth-talking Brit was the alleged mastermind of a $2.2 billion tax evasion rort that fleeced high-profile Australians including Crocodile Dundee star Paul Hogan out of $34 million.
The kingpin fraudster was living the high life until things went pear-shaped in 2004.
The Australian Federal Police raided his luxury hotel room in Melbourne following a long-running tax evasion investigation known as Project Wickenby
Among the items seized was Egglishaw’s laptop which contained vital information leading to the convictions of 46 people involved in the tax cheat.
They included renowned music boss Glenn Wheatley.
While his co-offenders went down, Egglishaw managed to stay hidden for 13 years.
He was eventually arrested while trying to cross the border from Switzerland to Italy in 2017.
He managed to slip the net again after being released from jail due to a failed prosecution attempt and remains a wanted man.
ANTHONY PHILLIP SITAR
Date of birth: 28/11/1979 (41 years old)
Place of birth: Albury, Australia
Height: 1.87 metres
Colour of hair: Black
Colour of eyes: Brown
Crimes: Sitar went deep underground after 14 kilograms of pure cocaine was found hidden inside beer bottles imported to Melbourne from Mexico.
The ill-fated import occurred in 2011 and several men went down for it – but not Sitar.
He was the co-owner of Chapel St’s Destino Latin Bar and listed as a joint consignee on the shipment of ‘beer’ received at the ports in October that year.
Border officials intercepted the shipment and discovered cocaine inside 46 of the 672 boxes of Cucapa brand beer.
The ruse stood to generate millions of dollars for those involved.
But it was foiled by the Australian Federal Police who went after the culprits.
Sitar managed to get away early and faces high-level drug importation offences if ever found.
SHAN LIAN QIU
Date of birth: 03/06/1982 (38 years old)
Nationality: Australian
Crimes: She was the high-flying fashion boss who found herself in high-level danger.
Qiu, the former director of designer fashion chain Gasp, is accused by China of serious drug smuggling allegations.
In 2020 the Herald Sun revealed that Qiu was believed to be hiding in plain sight in Melbourne.
Her previous addresses include a multimillion-dollar mansion in Brighton.
Legal documents show Qiu had in recent years attempted to take on a major bank over a property dispute.
The documents made no attempt to conceal her identity, despite the international target on her head.
Qiu’s homeland takes an extremely hard-line approach toward drug trafficking so she has good reason to stay hidden.
Little is known about the allegations she faces in China. She left the country for Australia in the early 2000s.
MELIAD FARAH
Date of birth: 05/11/1980 (40 years old)
Place of birth: Sydney, Australia
Crimes: The Aussie-born terrorist is wanted in Bulgaria over a bus bombing that killed five Israeli tourists and their driver in 2012.
Last year a Bulgarian court found Farah and his co-accused, Hassan El Hajj Hassan, guilty of helping Lebanese-French terrorist, Mohamad Hassan El-Husseini, plant the deadly bomb.
The pair were sentenced to life in prison but remain at large.
The terror attack, which occurred outside an airport, was linked to the militant group Hezbollah. It has denied involvement.
Farah and Hassan are thought to have entered Bulgaria using fake ID documents and fled soon after the bombing.
ABDULZAGIR MEDJIDOV
Date of birth: 09/07/1970 (50 years old)
Place of birth: Dagestan Republic, Russia
Crimes: Medjidov made himself scarce after being accused of extremely serious crimes in Russia.
The dual English-Russian speaker is being hunted over allegations of attempted murder and preparing for a crime.
Now aged 50, Medjidov has managed to stay under the radar for quite some time.
Photos posted of him on the Interpol website show him as a young man, including an image of him wearing an ‘AUS’ T-shirt in the bush.
International authorities have been urged to keep a look out for him.
THI MINH PHUNG DUONG
Date of birth: 02/09/1960 (60 years old)
Place of birth: Kien Giang, Vietnam
Nationality: Australian
Crimes: She might have an innocent face, but Vietnamese authorities think she is anything but.
Phuong is accused of swindling properties in Vietnam and has been at large for more than a decade.
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