Former Australia cricketer Stuart MacGill allegedly kidnapped and released in Sydney; police arrest four men

Australian armed police on Wednesday said they had 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.

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 14 April the 50-year-old 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, and according to police was assaulted and threatened with a firearm before being released after the hour-long ordeal.

Local media reported that MacGill’s kidnappers had been seeking a ransom.

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.

“The men were taken to local police stations where charges are expected to be laid,” New South Wales police said.