|
|
|
| Home | About Us | E-Franchise | Employment | Join Us | Shopping | Email Us | Guide |
| Affiliate | Our Mission | E-Partner | Free Classified | Earning | Add URL | Site Map | FAQ |
|
Three charged over hairdresser 'conspiracy' Three men have been charged over a conspiracy to torch a Sydney hairdressing supply company and to seriously assault its owner, as well as arson attacks on other similar businesses. The men were taken into custody during a series of raids across Sydney yesterday, police said. Property Crime Squad Commander Detective Superintendent Ken McKay said yesterday's arrests were the culmination of a two-and-a-half year investigation into a series of arson attacks on warehouses across Sydney that distributed hair and beauty products. "Since 1998 there have been 12 fire attacks on supply companies of hair and beauty products in the Sydney metropolitan area," Det Supt McKay said in a statement. Yesterday, a 46-year-old Dundas man was arrested at a business at Deadman's Road, Moorebank and was due to face Liverpool Court today charged with six counts of conspiracy to maliciously damage property by fire and maliciously inflict grievous bodily harm. A 25-year-old Turella man was arrested at his home in Willington Street at 9pm yesterday and was due to appear before Sutherland Court charged with similar offences. And a 45-year-old Summer Hill man was arrested in Pittwater Street at Hunters Hill shortly before 10am yesterday. He was charged and released on strict conditional bail. The arrests followed an operation on Friday night, where three men, two of them aged 18 and another 24, were captured during a covert operation at a hair and beauty products warehouse at Short Street, Chatswood. During that operation one of the armed men fired two shots at police officers before all three were arrested and charged with various shooting offences. Det Supt McKay said damage caused in the 12 attacks was conservatively estimated at $80 million. "It is alleged the three men arrested yesterday along with the three others last week are all part of a conspiracy to eliminate one particular rival supplier in Chatswood,'' he said. "It's alleged the principal of this conspiracy is the 46-year-old Dundas man who ordered the attack. "He is also allegedly responsible for directing others to plan and carry out arson attacks on a number of businesses owned by his competitors. ''... It is alleged the principal and his conspirators were attempting to monopolise the market by eliminating competition.'' The plan allegedly included targeting a factory in Melbourne and a hair care distribution premises at Erina, on the NSW central coast. Among the Sydney fires investigated by Strike Force Sulphide between 1998 and 2004 were one at Matrix Hairdressing Supplies, at Epson Road in Alexandria in August 1998 causing damage worth $4.3 million; Laxelles, at Boomerang Place in Seven Hills in January 1999 ($350,000); and Dateline, at Maddox Street in Alexandria, in August last year ($18 million).
|
|
