Gino and Mark Stocco were almost captured in Dunedoo in 2012

THE Stoccos’ alleged eight-year reign of terror along was almost cut short three years ago — in the very same town they were captured in this week.

Locals and staff enjoying a drink and the town's new-found fame at the Dunedoo Hotel.

• Off-duty Victorian officer on holiday recognised them in 2012

• Remote rural property allegedly used to grow cannabis

THE Stoccos’ alleged eight-year reign of terror along the Australian east coast was almost cut short three years ago — in the very same town they were captured in this week.

Gino and Mark Stocco, 57 and 36, were arrested in the nation’s biggest ever manhunt on Wednesday at a property outside the sleepy rural town of Dunedoo, east of Dubbo.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal it is the same quiet farming hub that almost played host to the duo’s downfall in 2012, when they were nearly snared while checking in to plot 13 of the Dunedoo caravan park.

“They had their own caravan and their own vehicle, they were planning on staying for a week,” owner Linda Ewin said.

“Funnily enough an off-duty Victorian police officer came in on holiday. He just rocked up like everyone else for an overnight visit. He recognised them, and when they recognised him they packed up and left.”

They were not as lucky when they returned to the area this week, with armed officers from the Tactical Operations Unit and the Robbery and Serious Crime Squad corning the dangerous fugitives on a 385ha property hidden up a remote rural track, allegedly used to grow crops of cannabis.

Hairy Mark and Gino Stocco during their time on the run / Picture: Supplied

Gino Stocco in the Dubbo police station / Picture: Peter Lorimer

Mark Stocco being led to a police car / Picture: Channel 10/Twitter

Dunedoo shop owners said there were several suspected cannabis plantations in the densely wooded hills that surround the town, with one adding that bikies regularly pass through but “we leave them alone”.

According to locals monitoring police scanners on Monday, the Stoccos passed through nearby Mendooran — where bikies were charged over a pub stabbing last year — before escaping into scrub.

That Dunedoo is now famous as the site of the Stoccos’ last stand has become a source of pride for the town’s 800 residents, particularly given the heartbreak at the 2013 scrapping of a coal mine that was set to revitalise the region.

Eight years on the run ... Gino and Mark Stucco.

“For them to be caught here, just down the road in Dunedoo, it’s a pretty special thing,” said builder Mark Gallagher, in a sports shirt emblazoned with the slogan: “We missed the coal mine but we got the Stoccos.”

“It was a big whack (losing the coal mine) but this really puts Dunedoo on the map again.”

Stories of close brushes with the pair are now common in Dunedoo.

Perhaps the last transaction the Stoccos will ever make was in the 5-Star supermarket. Late on Monday they entered and bought $8.25 worth of pot scrubbers.

“He was real funny, when he got to the check-out. Fidgety,” said Melissa Craggs, who served the younger Stocco. But some tales are better than others.

“Someone told me there was a couple of suspicious blokes sitting in the corner here the other day,” Dunedoo Hotel owner Glenn Chapman said.

“But when I looked at the cameras it was me and my mate.”

MURDER OF CARETAKER ONE OF 36 CHARGES

ACCUSED killers Gino and Mark Stocco are expected to be held at Goulburn Supermax prison until their next court appearance in January, after being refused bail at a short hearing in Dubbo Local Court yesterday morning.

The pair did not enter pleas to a total of 36 charges, including the murder of 68-year-old Rosario Cimone, the caretaker of the remote property near Dunedoo where they were arrested on Wednesday.

The father and son were excused from appearing during the two-minute hearing, with both remaining in police cells next door.

Letterboxes at the entrance to Pinevale, where the Stoccos were captured. Picture: Lisa Minner

The Dubbo Court House / Picture: Neil Keene

Gino, 57, and Mark, 36, face the same list of 18 charges each, including murder, three counts of shooting with intent to murder, two counts of engaging in a police pursuit and possessing an unauthorised firearm and ammunition.

Both are also wanted in relation to alleged offences in Queensland and Victoria, but those charges will not be heard until the NSW matters are finalised. Bail was not applied for and was formally refused.

Magistrate Andrew Eckhold adjourned the matter to January 20 in Dubbo, when they will appear via video link.

Mark Gallagher and Dale Hogden, builder showing off their Stucco T-shirts.

Stories of close brushes with the Stoccos are now common in Dunedoo.

Locals and staff enjoying a drink and the town's new-found fame at the Dunedoo Hotel.

“They will be initially conveyed to Wellington prison and then, from there, assessed and most likely will be transferred to another prison,” Acting Assistant Commissioner Clint Pheeney said.

It is believed the pair will be held at Goulburn until their next court appearance.

hunted down

It is alleged the fugitives shot at three police officers while trying to avoid arrest at Mangoplah near Wagga Wagga on October 16.

They were tracked to the Pineville property at Elong Elong and arrested by heavily armed police, who discovered the body of a man believed to have been missing for more than three weeks.

Though the body is yet to be formally identified, court documents say the Stoccos murdered Cimone on October 7, with his body lying in a shallow grave for three weeks before being found.

TIMELINE OF TERROR

2007: Mark and Gino Stocco are on the run from police in NSW and Queensland for fraud and robbery.

Oct. 16: The Stoccos — armed with a high powered rifle and shotgun — shoot at NSW highway patrol officers near the Victorian border.

Oct. 17: Police find the pair’s dumped Nissan Navara near Wagga Wagga.

Oct. 18: The pair steal a white Toyota LandCruiser ute from a property in the NSW Riverina region.

Oct. 20: Fresh-shaven and clean, the Stoccos are spotted refuelling the stolen ute at a petrol station in Eurora, in northeast Victoria.

Oct. 21: The Stoccos are spotted driving on the Melba Highway near the town of Glenburn, in central Victoria.

Oct. 21: The father and son are captured on CCTV at a supermarket in Bairnsdale.

Police enter the property during the operation. Picture: Neil Keene

Oct. 22: The pair are spotted by police at a check point near Castella but lose them in a high speed car chase.

Oct. 22: A Victorian police car is rammed near St James by a LandCruiser with numberplates stolen from Tumbarumba, NSW.

Oct. 24: The stolen ute is spotted in Sale, Victoria in the morning.

Oct. 24: At 9pm the men steal petrol from a service station in South Gundagai, NSW in a LandCruiser with South Australian numberplates.

Oct. 25: Police set up a perimeter around a property in Tarcutta, NSW, after residents report seeing the stolen vehicle.

Oct. 25: Unconfirmed sightings of the pair in Tumut, NSW.

Oct. 27: Police receive tip off about the pair’s whereabouts.

Oct. 28: After eight years on the run the Stoccos are arrested by NSW police at a property in Dunedoo near Dubbo in central west NSW.

The Stoccos’ white coloured Toyota Land Cruiser vehicle sits on a tow truck after being removed from Pinevale. Picture: AAP Image/David Moir

Originally published as Gino and Mark Stocco were almost captured in Dunedoo in 2012