Former Australian Test leg-spinner ’quite shaken’ after being 'kidnapped'

Australia's Shane Warne and Stuart MacGill formed a deadly partnership during their playing days. Picture: David Gray/Reuters

Australia's Shane Warne and Stuart MacGill formed a deadly partnership during their playing days. Picture: David Gray/Reuters

Published May 5, 2021

Share

SYDNEY - Australian police on Wednesday arrested four men in connection with the armed kidnapping of former Test bowler Stuart MacGill.

The men were detained in a pre-dawn raid in Sydney, following the kidnapping of the cricketer in the city's affluent Lower North Shore last month.

ALSO READ: AB de Villiers, South African IPL stars and coaches get green light to fly home from India

MacGill was lauded as a talented bowler and played 44 Tests for Australia, but was unlucky that his career coincided with that of Shane Warne, ranked by many as the best spin bowler of all time.

Police said that on April 14 the 50-year-old MacGill was confronted by three men at an intersection and bundled into a vehicle.

He was driven to a property an hour out of the city where he was allegedly assaulted and threatened with a firearm before being released after the hour-long ordeal.

ALSO READ: Australian IPL stars may be forced to exile in Maldives

"I know it was only an hour that he was held but it would have been a horribly frightful hour to endure," NSW Police superintendent Anthony Holton told media.

MacGill, who knew one of his alleged kidnappers, was "still quite shaken" by the incident, Holton said.

After "extensive investigations" a police strike force and riot officers arrested four men aged 27, 29, 42 and 46, in the early hours of Wednesday.

Although no ransom was paid police believe the kidnapping was financially motivated.

The four men were in the process of being charged and were expected to appear in court later on Wednesday.

AFP

Related Topics: