07:00 EDT, 6 May 2021
Stuart MacGill was allegedly kidnapped and beaten after an acquaintance of the cricketing great failed to pay for 2kg of cocaine worth about $600,000.
Daily Mail Australia understands MacGill innocently introduced Marino Sotiropoulos, the brother of his girlfriend Maria O Meagher, to a mystery man known only as Sonny.
MacGill and Sotiropoulos were once close but the retired leg spin bowler s association with Sonny is unclear and there is no suggestion he knew he was allegedly a drug dealer.
Sotiropoulos later allegedly helped supply Sonny with 2kg of cocaine provided by another unknown dealer who was never paid for the drugs.
Crime by Mark Morri
Premium Content One of the men charged over the extraordinary kidnapping of Stuart MacGill demanded the former Test cricketer pay him $150,000 because he blamed him for introducing him to a man - who turned out to be a drug dealer - who ripped him off in the sale of 2kg of cocaine, police will allege. Stuart MacGill and his partner Maria O Meagher are co-owners of Aristotle’s Greek restaurant at Neutral Bay. Picture: Instagram The Daily Telegraph understands police have been told MacGill was held responsible by a crime gang when the drug dealer either used counterfeit money, or did not pay at all, for the consignment of drugs.
02:06 EDT, 7 May 2021
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Shocking images inside the rundown property on Sydney s outskirts where former Australian cricketer Stuart MacGill was allegedly held captive at gunpoint and beaten up by three men last month have emerged.
Police allege the retired leg-spinner, 50, was confronted and bundled into a car by three men on Sydney s lower north shore on April 14 before being driven 60km to a two hectare property in Bringelly in the city s south-west.
He was allegedly held captive inside the property for an hour and bashed before he was driven 38km to Belmore.
The shocking state inside the property where MacGill allegedly endured his harrowing ordeal was revealed for the first time on Thursday.
Crime by Mark Morri, Josh Hanrahan and Lachlan Leeming 6th May 2021 10:33 AM
Premium Content  Terrified former Test cricket star Stuart MacGill hid out in a nondescript motel for nearly a week in fear of his life after allegedly being abducted at gunpoint by members of an accused crime syndicate. The former spin wizard booked himself into the motel rather than return to his north shore home near where he was grabbed off the street and bundled into a car. It is alleged that somehow MacGill got himself tangled up between two syndicates involved in a drug deal, believed to be worth up to $2 million. A senior NSW police officer alleged to The Daily Telegraph that MacGill was somehow caught up in a dispute between the two groups and, as a result, they kidnapped him .
Crime by Mark Morri , Mitchell Van Homrigh , Josh Hanrahan and Lachlan Leeming 5th May 2021 6:49 PM One of the men arrested in relation to the alleged kidnapping of former Test cricketer Stuart MacGill is the brother of his current partner Maria O Meagher. Â Marino Sotiropoulos, 46, was one of four men arrested on Wednesday morning over the alleged kidnapping of the ex-spin bowler - who was allegedly snatched from a north Sydney street, driven to a remote property at Bringelly and beaten, before being dumped at Belmore. Â Police will allege that Mr MacGill was confronted by Mr Sotiropoulos at Cremorne on April 14, before being forced into the car. Â Ms O Meagher is the owner of a Greek restaurant on the north shore. Â