A Sunshine Coast pair was held captive for hours. Seven men ‘demanded thousands of dollars’

Seven men allegedly tailed a Sunshine Coast man and woman, before kidnapping them and holding them captive in an apartment while demanding money in what police have described as a “serious, vicious attack”.

The men were allegedly members of a Sydney organised crime group, who travelled to Maroochydore earlier this year to recover a “business debt”.

Over several days, the men arrived on the Sunshine Coast, local Detective Inspector Chris Toohey said.

Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast.Credit: Sunshine Coast Council

They tracked their victims – a 27-year-old man, who was known to them, and a 29-year-old woman – before kidnapping them on April 10, and holding them inside a Sixth Avenue apartment.

“Sydney crime group members have come up to the Sunshine Coast, where they have held two people and attempted to extort financial gains from them,” Toohey said.

“It will be alleged that they were in a business operation and that the crime group believed that there was a debt owed to them by this male person.”

The debt was in the order of several hundreds of thousands of dollars, Toohey said.

He declined to comment on the nature of the business.

The victims’ families and friends raised the alarm with police.

The hours-long ordeal ended after specialist police burst into the apartment, rescuing the pair, who were physically unharmed, and arresting two of the alleged attackers.

They were charged with deprivation of liberty and extortion.

Investigations led police to NSW where officers from the specialist anti-gang Raptor Squad raided properties across Sydney’s western suburbs on Thursday, arresting the remaining five men.

A file photo of officers from NSW Police’s Raptor Squad.Credit: NSW Police

Four of the men, aged 27, 30, 30 and 32, were extradited to Queensland and were due to face Brisbane Magistrates Court on Monday.

The fifth man will be extradited at a later date due to unrelated medical issues.

Toohey said Sunshine Coast police were “committed to making sure organised crime and organised crime syndicates, especially from outside of the state, are held to account”.

“This was a serious, vicious and premeditated attack and this investigation outcome should serve as a strong warning criminal behaviour will not be tolerated,” he said.

“We don’t believe there’s any links to any criminal element here on the Sunshine Coast. What I can say is though, that we are committed and have formed a Sunshine Coast gang squad to deal with any forms of organised crime that may come here.

“Our intention is to maintain the lifestyle that we fiercely want to protect here.”

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