5 minute read
TRUE CRIME - Cracking a smash-and-grab gang
Editorial: Jesse Wray-McCann
After police in Melbourne’s south-east began investigating a spate of business burglaries in late 2006, they quickly realised they were dealing with one of the most prolific safe-cracking gangs in Victoria’s history.
With a catch-me-if-you-can attitude, the gang was so relentless they continued to break into businesses and steal safes even after being arrested and released on bail.
The chase for the gang began in early 2007 when crime investigation units (CIU) in the south-east separately began investigating instances of stolen safes and cash from fast food outlets, medical clinics and other businesses, dating back to December 2006.
The gang – made up of Daniel Soltan, 28, Hoani Paranihi, 19, Anthony Adams, 37, and Jim Mantzalas, 49 – had a consistent approach to its raids on businesses to net hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash.
Led by Soltan, the gang would pick a target likely to keep cash on-site overnight.
They would cut wires in nearby telecommunications pits and then phone the target businesses to see if they were successful in disabling security systems.
Once they were confident no security patrols had been sent out, they would force their way inside, smashing windows or jemmying open doors.
When inside, they would destroy CCTV cameras and alarm systems before using sledgehammers, crowbars and even forklifts to bash and pry the safes free.
They would take the safes away, use a large angle grinder to split them open, steal the cash within and dump the safes in creeks or dams.
Detective Sergeant Mick Sewell, who worked at Chelsea CIU at the time, said once the modus operandi was established, investigators from the various CIUs joined forces to catch the gang.
But identifying the suspects was proving difficult because, despite their violent break-ins, the gang members always wore balaclavas, wigs and gloves.
“They seemed cocky and confident because they knew they weren’t leaving forensic evidence anywhere,” Det Sgt Sewell said.
“They got so prolific, doing a job almost nightly, and sometimes multiple jobs in one night.
“It really seemed like they had a catch-me-ifyou-can attitude.”
But a breakthrough came when lead investigator Detective Senior Constable Rod Eaton discovered Soltan had made a simple yet significant mistake.
After the gang cut the phone lines outside a Subway restaurant one night, Soltan rang the restaurant to check its phone was down and security system disabled.
But the wrong wires were cut and Soltan’s call was picked up by the restaurant’s answering machine before he could hang up.
This call connection gave Det Sen Const Eaton Soltan’s phone number, which he used to identify him and his criminal crew.
“From that point we monitored who he was phoning and that helped us develop our network of suspects,” Det Sen Const Eaton said.
The gang continued to hit businesses in and around Frankston, Mornington and Cheltenham, giving police evidence to strengthen the case against them.
On 3 May 2007, the gang travelled west, all the way to Werribee to rob four medical clinics in just one night.
It was after this date that Adams finished committing burglaries with the gang.
The next night, the gang hit a Subway restaurant in Patterson Lakes before detectives swooped to arrest them while they were breaking into a Frankston medical centre.
The gang was charged with multiple offences and all members were released on bail on 7 May to await their court cases.
But within just days, each driven by a compulsion to feed their crippling gambling addictions, the robbers continued their crime spree.
On top of targeting businesses in their usual haunts, they began travelling further afield and stealing safes from businesses in Pakenham, Malvern East and Mount Waverley.
It was during this redoubled crime binge that they had their biggest hit, with Paranihi and Mantzalas stealing a safe from a Cheltenham surgery containing $95,000.
Police were shocked at how brazen and relentless the gang was, so Detective Senior Sergeant Shane Rix officially launched the investigation known as Operation Swing.
“After they got bail, they didn’t even bother to change their methodology,” Det Sen Sgt Rix said.
“They were getting significant quantities of cash and weren’t exactly splashing it on expensive things, so we were left wondering, ‘Just how much money can they possibly pump into the pokies?’”
Soltan’s gambling addiction presented police the perfect opportunity to keep tabs on him, with a Technical Surveillance Unit operative planting a tracking device on Soltan’s car while he was playing the pokies at Mount Martha’s Dava Hotel.
The tracker, phone records, phone call intercepts and continued offending allowed investigators to gather compelling evidence.
“Sometimes you have to let the crooks cook themselves,” Det Sgt Sewell said.
In early August 2007, convinced they had a watertight case, Operation Swing detectives decided it was time to move on the gang.
In the early hours of 6 August, State Surveillance Unit police were tailing the gang when they headed north to Greensborough.
While driving, the gang performed several anti-surveillance manoeuvres to shake any cars tracking them before breaking into the Urban Grooves Café.
Police arrived at the scene just after the gang had split open the safe and stashed the cash.
In an effort to evade arrest, Soltan and Mantzalas jumped over a nearby fence, but Paranihi couldn’t make it over with them.
“It was like in the cartoons, with him scrambling to get over but we just came up and pulled him off the fence,” Det Sgt Sewell said.
“Mantzalas, because he was a bit older, ran out of breath quickly and dived head-first into a bramble bush.
Soltan, though, had made it into a creek to try and avoid being detected by police dogs.
“He later told us the water was so cold he almost got out and gave up,” Det Sgt Sewell said.
“He ended up crawling under a house nearby and slept there until 10am before getting out.”
Yet it was all in vain, as detectives arrested Soltan at his home the next day.
Throughout Operation Swing, detectives had investigated 391 burglaries they believed the gang committed.
The gang members were intending to contest the charges but ended up agreeing with investigators to plead guilty to charges relating to 76 incidents.
The entire gang was jailed; Soltan for seven years, Paranihi for five years and three months, Adams – who was arrested separately on 28 August – for five years and Mantzalas for three years and six months.
Over the eight-month crime spree, the gang had stolen about half a million dollars and left a $600,000 damage bill in its wake.
Det Sgt Sewell said the hard work of Det Sen Const Eaton and long hours of Operation Swing worked by Chelsea CIU detectives had all been worth it.
“The fact they had been running amok for such a long time, causing so much harm to the community, it was incredibly satisfying to take them down,” Det Sgt Sewell said.
