3 months ago
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Authorities are homing in on a well-known organised crime group they suspect may have had a hand in kidnapping the brother of a prominent Sydney property developer, holding him captive for four days.
George Ayoub, the brother of Masscon developer founder Charlie Ayoub, was abducted by a group of men who drove up in a white car and grabbed him outside his home last Thursday.
TikTok user Triggz, real name Peter Vaiusu, holds up a picture of alleged kidnapping victim George Ayoub.Credit: TikTok
The 28-year-old was missing for four days while police worked to find him.
Reformed gangster Peter Vaiusu, posting on social media under the name Triggz, said he had been called in by the Ayoub family to broker George’s safe return.
Vaiusu said a ransom of $1 million was paid to the kidnappers, and George Ayoub was released uninjured to family and supporters in Chipping Norton on Monday evening.
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Since then, NSW Police and the NSW Crime Commission have been quietly working to determine the identity of the kidnap plotters.
Sources familiar with the investigation say it has been complicated by the underworld’s contract-based system in which gangsters hire each other to perform partial tasks in a larger plot, such as stealing and rebirthing vehicles, staging and hiding tools and providing money transfers.
Detectives were examining a “well-known” crime group in Sydney in relation to Ayoub’s kidnapping, NSW Police sources told this masthead. They declined to reveal which group, and no arrests have been made under Strikeforce Mammoth.
Other sources familiar with the investigation, but outside police, told the Herald one person who had been under scrutiny, but who had since been ruled out, was the head of a smaller crime family who has previously faced charges of kidnapping. They had no previous acrimony towards the Ayoub family.
Meanwhile, the Ayoub family is refusing to speak to media. George Ayoub, asked by the Herald if he would like to talk about the ordeal replied politely: “Absolutely not.“ Charlie Ayoub did not respond to a similar request.
Vaiusu posted a video on Monday showing a convoy of Ford Ranger utes driving through darkened streets and meeting with hooded and obscured figures for the emotional return of the hostage.
“The look on George’s face when he saw us was priceless and also, the tears that came from his family’s face when we walked him into the house [were] priceless,” Vaiusu said.
Vaiusu declined to respond to multiple media requests throughout the week. Instead, he has promised to tell the complete story in a video to be posted later on Friday.
Masscon describes itself as a family-owned business deeply enmeshed in the city.
It is based in Greenacre. George Ayoub holds a position as construction manager.
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