By Perry Duffin
A woman abducted from her home and found dead in a burnt-out car is believed to have been an innocent victim, targeted and killed by a gang seeking revenge after their drugs were stolen.
Investigators believe the murder bears the hallmarks of a sophisticated organised crime group.
Police say the 45-year-old woman, Thi Kim Tran, was at her Bankstown home in south-west Sydney with a young child and teenager when masked men burst in on Thursday night.
The intruders bashed an eight-year-old boy in the head with a baseball bat and forced Tran at gunpoint into a black SUV waiting outside.
The SUV and a white sedan sped away from the home, leaving the injured boy with a 15-year-old who had witnessed the abduction.
An hour later, just before midnight, police were told a car was alight in neighbouring Beverly Hills.
Inside the car was the body of Tran, who police believe had been killed by her kidnappers.
A manhunt is under way to find the men who abducted and killed Tran and those higher up the chain who ordered the crime.
Police investigations began with the burnt-out car. Officers matched the torched car to one which had been stolen this year from the inner city.
They believe the thieves were youths who steal and sell cars to the underworld for use in drive-by shootings and other crimes.
Such “kill cars” have been used in most recent hits involving Sydney’s gangland figures and suggest large amounts of money changed hands before Tran’s death.
Publicly, police have said only that the murder was “targeted” rather than a random act of violence.
But this masthead can reveal police suspect Tran was murdered because someone close to her had ripped off a gang involved in drug production. Tran is not believed to have been involved in any criminality and may not have been aware she was in any danger.
There is no suggestion Tran’s husband, who was out of the state during her murder, was involved in any wrongdoing.
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