Bush Bandits !

It sounds more like something from 1920's America than twenty-first century Australia but it seems that we have a criminal father and son terrorising country towns and raiding isolated farming properties - and they have been on the run for eight years !

Gino Stocco ( 57 ) and his son Mark  ( 35 ) have operated in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, leaving behind them a sorry tale of stolen property - including guns and motor vehicles.  They pose as itinerant farm workers and gain employment bringing in the crops,but use that opportunity to case the farm and later return to carry out a robbery.  They have a malicious intent, and often resort to arson or wilful damage of expensive farm machinery.

This week New South Wales police detected them driving near Wagga Wagga, resulting in a police chase.  Twice the fugitives opened fire on the pursuing police with high powered rifles and they eventually abandoned their vehicle and fled into the bush.   Despite a large police search, which included helicopters, they have disappeared and they have bush skills that will make them difficult to find.

Many will remember the search for Malcolm Naden which ended in 2011.  This man was accused of two murders and specialised in breaking into holiday homes , in some cases living in the roof cavity while these homes were occupied. He had the skills to live off the land with raids on isolated properties to provide "luxuries " like coffee, sugar and chocolate.

At one stage police surprised him in a bush camp and in the shoot out that followed he wounded an officer.  Capture efforts lapsed into years and he was only caught when police resorted to electronic methods.   They "bugged " isolated properties he would be likely to raid and these devices had movement sensors which alerted police and brought a heavily armed raiding party to the scene. Naden is now serving a lengthy prison sentence.

We have radicalised Islamists threatening violence in our cities and now the people in the bush are at risk from two criminals who have the skills to move silently over great distances.  There is a risk that they will hijack an innocent motorist on a country road or hole up on an isolated farm and hold the farm family hostage.

With this risk in mind, the bush needs to go on an alert.  Mail contractors should look for uncollected mail and if a neighbours phone goes unanswered for a suspicious period of time that would be worth investigation.  Country folk are hospitable, but they are also canny people and when a change of pattern occurs in everyday life they now have reason to question why that is happening.

In particular, there will be an opportunity for these two criminals to fraternise amongst the itinerant workers who move from farm to farm to bring in the crops.  They are bush people who would blend in easily with this crowd.  They speak the bush "language " and they are used to farm work and this will make detection difficult, but country folk would be advised to memorise their faces from the stories that have appeared in the television news and in newspapers.

They have made is crystal clear that they are prepared to use the firearms in their possession to prevent capture.   The people of the bush need to react accordingly !