A man has been charged over his alleged involvement in three kidnappings in Sydney including one in which the victim was dragged from his home after opening his door to what he thought was a pizza delivery driver.
The 22-year-old was arrested at Regents Park, in Sydney’s south-west on Wednesday morning in connection with violent incidents where victims were dragged from homes in Punchbowl, Dundas Valley and Sans Souci in 2020 and 2021.
A man posing as a pizza delivery driver at a home in Dundas Valley in February 2020.
Detectives had been investigating the kidnappings separately but now allege the 22-year-old was a common link. The motive behind each of the kidnappings, police believe, was money.
In the first incident, in February 2020, Vahe Geokjian, 58, answered the door of his Brothers Road home in Dundas Valley to a man he thought was delivering a pizza.
Three other men then entered the home, knocked Geokjian unconscious and kidnapped him for two days before he was taken to Liverpool Hospital with leg and face injuries.
“The common link between these three kidnappings is that we will be alleging that this 22-year-old male was actively involved in the take and detention of the three victims,” Detective Chief Inspector Anthony Holton of the Robbery and Serious Crime Squad said.
“This is a significant arrest, we’ve been working these investigations since the first kidnapping occurred in Dundas Valley in 2020.”
The second incident occurred when Yousseff Nagi, 30, was confronted by a group of men at his home in Punchbowl, in Sydney’s south-west, and was dragged onto the street and forced into a van.
In the third incident in June 2021, Sam Amine, 46, was at home with his wife in San Souci, in Sydney’s south when four armed men broke in and dragged him into a stolen BMW. He was then driven to Padstow and assaulted.
He escaped just before midnight by climbing out of a window.
“Each of the victims of the kidnappings has had different types of injuries ... it would be a horrible ordeal for someone to go through to be dragged out of their house in front of their children ... and then to be detained and to not know potentially what could happen to you,” Holton said.
The 22-year-old was charged with 13 offences including take/detain in company with intent to get advantage occasion actual bodily harm, aggravated break and enter, participating in a criminal group and possessing an unauthorised pistol.
Police said investigations into all three incidents were continuing.
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