Deadline: Socceroo’s brother allegedly instrumental in lucrative Premier League deal
The big brother of a Socceroos star is said to have helped secure him a lucrative deal with a Premier League club — while on the run from police.
Police & Courts
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Mark Buttler and Andrew Rule with the latest scallywag scuttlebutt.
Cool Kuol OK but hot Kuol AWOL
It’s a long way from gritty Footscray to the glamour of English Premier League soccer. And for anyone keeping his head down to dodge police, the gulf would seem to be that much wider.
But the tyranny of distance and the law’s keen interest in his whereabouts have allegedly been no obstacle for fugitive Kuol Mawien Kuol.
Kuol is the older brother of rising Socceroos star Garang Kuol, an 18-year-old of such prodigious talent that he has been signed by Newcastle in northern England for $500,000 ahead of a heap of other clubs chasing him.
The strong word in Australian soccer circles is that his elusive big brother was instrumental in securing the deal, even while looking over his shoulder for the cops.
Deadline’s checks this week showed that investigators still haven’t been able to match the footwork of the nimble 23-year-old, who skipped bail in Australia on fraud charges in July.
Investigators have gone public with a media alert but the mail is that he might be lying low somewhere on the New South Wales coast.
If he did broker little brother’s deal (and trouser the commission), it would surely irk some who have crossed his path over the years.
It is alleged the older Kuol — a former bank employee — was involved in a $121,000 scam in which some elderly folk lost their savings.
The Shepparton News reported in June that police opposed his release on bail.
Det. Sen. Const. Daniel Chapman of the gang crime squad’s Echo taskforce alleged in Shepparton Magistrates’ Court that Kuol Mawien Kuol was on a $20,000 bail surety when he got another man to sign in for him at the police station seven times.
He is also accused of trying to sell 13 grams of cocaine to an undercover police officer, with using counterfeit money and with handing over the licence of another Kuol brother when pulled over by the cops.
These allegations are, of course, no reflection on Garang who is getting on with rocketing the round ball into the back of the old onion bag.
The former Central Coast Mariner will be in the UK by early next year and is confident enough to have his eye on a World Cup berth.
Police this week told Deadline the warrant for Kuol Mawien Kuol remained in place. He is known among Sudanese communities in Shepparton and Footscray, and in Pyrmont and Merrylands in NSW.
He is described as 180cm tall with a slim build, dark hair and dark eyes. There is a strong family resemblance between the brothers.
I’m a crim, get me outta here
There is much talk recently of the post-Covid backlog facing our justice system.
It brought to mind the innovative, unorthodox and possibly slightly improper approach of a western suburbs magistrate to such issues some years ago.
An old source tells us that His Honour, when confronted with a packed court, would fast track matters his own way.
“All of you people who are intending to plead guilty today, sit over this side,” the beak would order in his distinctive subcontinental accent.
“All of you who are intending to plead not guilty, sit over this side — you will be here all day.”
Our source said this gambit would quickly fill the guilty-plea pews as drug-users anxious to score opted to make full admissions and hurry back to the streets.
Ambitious wheelman strikes out
Deadline was hardly aware there was such a thing as a streetcar worth $1 million until someone tried to steal one in Melbourne last week.
The Ferrari sports car was on the lot at Lorbek luxury cars when someone who didn’t want to meet the $985,000-plus price tag showed up last Friday morning.
The man, who had perhaps left his wallet at home, tried to drive the 2022 F8 model out of the Prohasky St business but didn’t get far.
“Staff had managed to activate security protocols which prevented the man from driving the vehicle away and police were called,” a Victoria Police spokesman said.
Police were called to the scene where they arrested a 28-year-old Werribee man who is assisting with inquiries.
Lorbek is one of Melbourne’s biggest prestige car dealerships and has operated for three decades. Its sales and service records must contain some interesting names.
Would “Antonios Mokbel” be one?
Hot bikes are here
Speaking of vehicle crime, officers from Victoria Police’s vehicle crime squad have recovered some of a big haul of motorcycles stolen in Sydney.
Back in July, 52 Honda CRF250F bikes were snatched from a shipping container in a Strathfield South holding yard.
A New South Wales police strike force, codenamed Goodhall, was set up to catch the crooks and find the bikes, valued at a total $688,000.
Indications were that they had been brought to Victoria, as nine were recently recovered at Williamstown North and two at Williams Landing.
Two men arrested by vehicle crime squad detectives and officers from the VIPER task force will face court in coming months.
Investigators believe there are more of the Hondas in Victoria and have appealed for information from anyone who might see them advertised online.
“If you see a brand new bike being advertised online for an unusually low price, or if a seller profile looks suspicious, please screenshot it and come forward to police,” says Det. Sen-Sgt John Dimos of the vehicle crime squad.
Rebel’s wet run
No drama for police from the national Rebels run which went ahead in some diminished form in Victoria’s north over the weekend.
Officers from the Echo and VIPER taskforces were all set to come down hard on any law-breaking but they didn’t have too much to do as weather severely disrupted the OMCG’s intention to ride from Shepparton to Bendigo.
Their plans to stay at the Bendigo Showgrounds went belly-up and the bikies were scattered around the district.
From all reports, there was no trouble.
At the same time, a carload who had perhaps taken a good look at a weather forecast was seen down at Southbank on Friday as their hombres battled heavy rain and closed roads.
Punching out an Everest winner
Boxing is not necessarily crime-related, although colourful characters have taken a strong interest in the “sweet science” since David v Goliath, some in the ring and others handling bets nearby.
Combine the racing crowd with the boxing crowd and it’s quite a collection. That’s what happened when battling jockeys and other racing industry people staged a charity fight night for the “Behind the Barriers” mental health body at Caulfield back in May.
Highlights of the night included the dashing horseman Jack Laing (who has won 25 amateur bouts, says his trainer dad Robbie Laing) taking on a sharp fighter from a prominent pro gym.
Then there was the fighting Irish veterinary surgeon, Tom Russell, who reputedly learned to put his punches together in cage fights while studying the finer points of scalpels and equine anatomy.
But the best support bout was the fierce draw fought between former champion country apprentice Jacob Rule and the tallest jockey in captivity, Clayton Douglas, whose CV includes riding at the “picnics”, riding Group winners on the flat and winning Australia’s biggest jumps races, including the Grand Annual twice, the Australian Steeplechase and Australian Hurdle.
Douglas, now training horses full time, can also handle his hands a bit, which is why the rugged Rule had to be content with a draw in a bout that got the Caulfield crowd cheering. But once the pair stepped out of the square ring and into the bar, they were back to being the great mates who give each other lifts to the races.
Which is why, when Douglas won the multimillion-dollar Everest at Randwick at the weekend with the dazzling young sprinter Giga Kick, no one was more delighted than J. Rule.
“So happy for him,” he texted immediately about the rags to riches win. Presumably Douglas’s former fiance Jamie Kah feels the same way, judging from her dazed smile as she watched Giga kick away on the big screen between her engagements at Caulfield.
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