Police pursue suspected contract killers for ‘six days of carnage’
Police have released CCTV footage from a string of crimes alleged to have been carried out by an interstate ‘contract crew’ who shot and mutilated their victims – even burying one alive.
Police have launched a manhunt for a criminal “contract crew” that allegedly carried out “six days of carnage” across NSW and Queensland involving murder, torture and kidnapping.
Homicide detectives on Monday appealed for information on a group of alleged offenders linked to the murder of Rich “Dylan” Choup in Cabramatta in Sydney’s west last year, the alleged kidnapping and mutilation of another man, and the attempted murder of a Brisbane man – shot in the head and buried in a shallow grave.
Police said the attacks occurred in quick succession over less than a week and “may be linked to a Victorian drug trafficking syndicate”.
CCTV of the three incidents was released in the hope it would aid an investigation by Strike Force Hallet.
Homicide Squad Detective Superintendent Joseph Doueihi said police were investigating five “Asian and Pacific Islander” men in the “contract crew”, though not all members were linked to all three incidents.
Superintendent Doueihi said if he was a “betting man”, he would chalk the alleged crimes up to “a case of missing drugs or missing money”.
The crew’s crime spree is alleged to have begun on July 19 last year when they kidnapped a 31-year-old man in Auburn and held him at a property in Canley Vale, southwest of the Sydney CBD.
CCTV showed a white Volkswagen and dark Audi SQ2 “driving in convoy”.
“Both vehicles were stolen. Both vehicles had cloned number plates,” Superintendent Doueihi said. “One of the vehicles, the Audi, was recovered later in August, burnt out in Granville.”
Police have accused the crew of torturing the man and slicing off a section of his ear. It was not reported to police.
A raid on the suspected crime scene in October led to the discovery of a box cutter believed to be have been used in the torture process. Two days later, the same alleged offenders are believed to have shot and buried a 23-year-old man in Jimboomba, south of Brisbane.
The victim dug himself out and made his way to a service station at 5am “covered in dirt and allegedly suffering a gunshot wound”.
Despite his protests, he was taken to hospital, where it was determined he had been shot through the eye and had a bullet lodged in his brain.
“(He) was lured from NSW to Queensland by a group of males, not knowing what their ulterior motive was,” Superintendent Doueihi said.
“The male was shot in the head, through the eye, with a bullet lodged in his brain. He was buried in a shallow grave. Unbeknown to the offenders who believed he was deceased, the male crawled out of the grave and made his way to a nearby service station, where an ambulance was called and he was taken to a nearby hospital, had surgery and had the bullet removed.
“For someone to survive that is a miracle.”
The motive for the Jimboomba shooting was unclear, though police believe Choup and the alleged kidnapping victim were both employees of the Victorian syndicate. “We believe that Mr Choup was an employee of that syndicate and has fallen foul of that syndicate,” Superintendent Doueihi said. “We are in contact with the victims; I wouldn’t say they’re fully co-operating with police, but they are talking to us to a certain extent.
“It’s unfortunate we are seeing this high level of violence and these are linked to these organised crime drug trafficking groups (in which), we believe, the majority are from an Asian background.”
Choup was last seen on July 25, telling a friend he “had a meeting” and asking them to stay close by. He was seen on CCTV that evening on Railway Parade, Cabramatta, speaking with a man who appeared to berate him and slap him across the face.
They were seen walking towards a grey Audi SQ2 matching the vehicle used in the Canley Vale kidnapping a week earlier. They were accompanied by another two men believed to have links to the crime spree. Police suspect Choup was murdered soon after.
“It demonstrates the level of hierarchy within that organisation for Mr Choup just to sit there and be slapped in public,” Superintendent Doueihi said. “It would suggest to me that that person that was speaking to him holds a much higher position in that organisation than he did.
“There was no resistance there, there was no attempt to flee, there was no attempt to strike back. So it was quite evident from that footage that Mr Choup was in fear of that person.”
Choup was reported missing four days later and his remains were found on August 31 by a group of trail bike riders in bushland near Lucas Heights. A coroner determined he had been shot dead. The top of his right ear had been cut off, a torture technique “seen quite often”, according to Superintendent Doueihi.
The NSW Homicide Squad was collaborating with a Victorian investigation of the domestic drug trafficking “cartel” and Queensland police probing the Jimboomba shooting.
“These are disturbing crimes. I think that the public would be rightly horrified by some of the information that’s being communicated. There is absolutely no tolerance for this kind of shocking violent behaviour,” NSW Premier Chris Minns said at a press conference.
“The public should have confidence that we’ve got major police resources and a huge investigation across jurisdictions directly targeted at this crime gang.
“I know that these images are confronting, but it’s important that police are able to communicate to the public: A) what these what these animals are up to, and B) the challenge that the police have in front of them.”
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