WEDNESDAY, 7PM:
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Acting Assistant Commissioner for the western region Clint Pheeney addressed the media on Wednesday afternoon and said both Gino and Mark Stocco received treatment at Dubbo Hospital for injuries sustained during their arrest.
“Contrary to some media reports they did not surrender to police or hand themselves in, they were arrested following the property that they were in being surrounded by tactical police,” Acting Assistant Commissioner Pheeney said.
“There was some resistance to the arrest and as a result of the arrest some minor injuries... for both Gino and Mark. They are not serious in nature.
“I’m told that Mark Stocco has very superficial injuries, Gino’s injuries aren’t serious but it may require further treatment.”
Two key pieces of information regarding a suspicious vehicle in the Goonoo State Forest and a missing relative provided by members of the public led police to the property, which was already known to them.
“It actually put the final pieces of the jigsaw together in terms of this property,” Acting Assistant Commissioner Pheeney said.
“The telling point I think was a member of the community telling us a story about a missing relative and a person who has not been seen for about three weeks.”
Police believed the Stoccos had actually been conducting some work on the property, which police had visited before in relation to the fugitives.
The actual nature of the work is not yet known. Detectives from State Crime Command’s Robbery and Serious Crime Squad have formed strike force Peta to investigate the circumstances around the man’s death and a post mortem will now take place.
WEDNESDAY, 6PM:
Police remain stationed at an Elong Elong property this evening after a body of man was found earlier today.
Earlier today police said a body had been located on the property after the arrest of Gino and Mark Stocco believed to be a 68-year-old man who has been missing since October 8.
WEDNESDAY, 5.40PM:
The arrest of Gino Stocco and his son Mark has brought some relief to Gino's father Peter Stocco. Fairfax Media's Rory Callinan reports:
For the past 10 years Peter Stocco feared the worst about his fugitive son and grandson as they left a trail of destruction and anger behind them across half of Australia.
But on Wednesday afternoon, he felt he could finally stop worrying about Gino, his son and Mark, his grandson.
"They caught them and they don't make trouble," he said as news broke that the pair, the country's most wanted fugitives, were intercepted by police on the highway on the outskirts of Dunedoo a tiny country town in central western New South Wales.
Since the early 2000s, the octogenarian has had to deal with the fallout from his wayward men as they allegedly stole, vandalised and defrauded their way across three states, accused of causing millions of dollars in damage.
And he was powerless to prevent Gino's own son Mark from being dragged into his father's life of alleged crime - a scenario that he says unfolded after Gino's marriage broke up in the early 2000s.
WEDNESDAY, 3.50PM:
POLICE have found the decomposed body of a missing man on the remote property used as Gino and Mark Stocco's final hideout.
The father-and-son fugitives were arrested on the central western NSW property on Wednesday morning after eight years on the run.
Fairfax Media has been told the caretaker of the remote property, Pinevale, disappeared in suspicious circumstances about four weeks ago.
Hours after arresting the pair in a dramatic covert operation, police started searching the property's thick bushland for a body.
A police spokesman said a body had been located on the property, believed to be a 68-year-old man who has been missing since October 8.
Investigators fear Gino, 57 and Mark, 36, may have had some involvement in the man's disappearance, Fairfax Media has been told.
WEDNESDAY, 3.30PM:
MORE details are emerging about the arrest of Gino and Mark Stocco earlier on Wednesday. Fairfax Media's Tony Wright reports:
In the end, Australia's most wanted fugitives, Gino and Mark Stocco, had no choice but to surrender without a shot being fired.
They were corralled by heavily armed police in their camp on a property in deep scrub off a gravel road 40km from Dunedoo, population about 850, in central west NSW.
Squads of police - including members of the NSW Tactical Response Unit outfitted in bush camouflage outfits and carrying Heckler and Koch submachine guns - had gathered in Dunedoo during Wednesday morning, startling townsfolk and clearly acting on a tip-off on the fugitives' whereabouts.
"There were at least 15 police cars and a SWAT team," a young woman who works at the town's cafe said. "We didn't know what was going on."
Mid-morning, the police set off from the town and barricaded the Boomley Road, a gravel track that swings past the Goonoo Forest and around the Cobbora State Forest off the Golden Highway between Dunedoo and Dubbo.
It's a little-used road - the forest area is known locally as the Boomley Scrub - but no traffic at all was allowed in as the police set off down the track.
"We heard the police had blocked off the road, but we couldn't see what was happening," said Mark Dent, of nearby Cobbora Station.
By midday, it was all over. The men were found on a property called Pinevale up a track called Tonniges Road off the Boomley Road, not far from Elong Elong. The property, which contains considerable bush land, was sold last year and it is not known whether it is occupied.
NSW police announced the Stoccos, father and son, had been captured. No struggle, no shots.
WEDNESDAY, 3PM:
GINO and Mark Stocco were transported separately to Dubbo Police Station at about 2pm on Wednesday.
Gino arrived to the station a little before 2pm in the back of a police paddy wagon, while Mark was brought to the station in an unmarked vehicle at about 2:10pm, escorted by two officers not in uniform.
Shortly afterwards Gino was taken from the station by ambulance.
More details are expected to come to light when police address the media at 4pm.
WEDNESDAY, 2.45PM:
GINO and Mark Stocco have arrived at Dubbo Police Station where they will be charged with a string of offences following their arrests near Dunedoo earlier on Wednesday.
The pair were wanted on several outstanding warrants for violent crimes across Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.
Police also intend to charge them for attempted murder after they allegedly shot at police officers near Wagga Wagga 10 days ago.
WEDNESDAY, 2.30PM:
The man behind the car ... a farmer whose stolen four-wheel-drive made national headlines after it was stolen by the Stoccos says he doesn’t want it back.
Mark and Gino Stocco had travelled thousands of kilometres in Paul Rogers’ white Toyota Landcruiser before they were caught at Dunedoo on Wednesday.
WEDNESDAY, 2.15PM:
GINO and Mark Stocco were hiding out on a 385-hectare property named 'Pinevale', about 50 kilometres east of Dubbo.
Pinevale has numerous bushland motorbike tracks and horse riding tracks that Gino, 57, and Mark, 36, may have used.
A real estate advertisement last year said the property has two homes, a workshop, tractor sheds, storage sheds, wooden stock yards, five dams and new fencing.
It is the perfect property "to escape to when you have had enough of city life," its former owners said in the ad.
WEDNESDAY, 1.45PM:
GINO and Mark Stocco were arrested at a property on Tonniges Road at Elong Elong shortly before 12pm on Wednesday following a covert operation involving officers from Western Region, New England Local Area Command, the Tactical Operations Unit, Aviation Support Branch, and State Crime Command’s Robbery and Serious Crime Squad.
No shots were fired and no one was injured during the arrest.
Strike Force Kalkadoon was formed by NSW Police Force’s Southern Region to investigate the pair’s whereabouts earlier this month.
The men will be taken to Dubbo Police Station to be charged.
Police would like to thank their interstate counterparts at Victorian Police, as well as the media and the public for their assistance during the search.
Twelve days of hunting for two of the country's most wanted men has come to an end. Gino, 57, and Mark Stocco, 35, have been arrested at Dunedoo after a shooting at police in southern NSW sparked a massive search. We'll be bringing you updates as it happens here. Refresh your page for the latest information.
Gino and Mark Stocco have been transported to Dubbo police station to be charged after their arrest in central New South Wales on Wednesday morning.
No shots were fired and no one was injured during the arrest.
Strike Force Kalkadoon was formed by NSW Police Force’s Southern Region to investigate the pair’s whereabouts earlier this month.
BACKGROUND
- October 16: Police shot at near Mangoplah, NSW, after attempting to stop a silver Nissan Navara
- October 17: Nissan Navara involved in the shooting is recovered from Kyeamba Creek, NSW
- October 19: Landcruiser reported stolen from Little Billabong, NSW
- October 20: CCTV footage emerges of Stoccos and stolen Landcruiser at a service station at Euroa
- October 21: Confirmed sighting of Stoccos at Bairnsdale, Victoria (reported later)
- October 21: Confirmed sighting of Stoccos near Yea, Victoria
- October : Police car rammed near St James, northern Victoria
- October 23: Confirmed sighting of Stoccos at a service station at Gundagai, NSW
- October 25: Reported sighting of Stocco vehicle at a property at Tarcutta, NSW
- October 25: Debunked sighting of Stoccos on the Newell Highway, east of West Wyalong
- October 25: Unconfirmed sightings at Tumut
- October 28: Stoccos arrested at a property near Dunedoo in northern NSW
Gino and Mark Stocco, aged 57 and 35 respectively, were relative unknowns to the majority of Australians until they shot at police on a back dirt road near Mangoplah on October 16. It was a Friday. What came next was a modern-day Ned Kelly saga that criss-crossed two states and thousands of kilometres, culminating in their arrest at Dunedoo.
The father and son, it turned out, were wanted in three states for crimes such as theft, fraud and arson, and had been on the run for eight years. Accused of ripping off dozens of people in rural communities, they were jailed for several months in 2007 in Victoria after they stole the identities of a priest, a soldier serving in Iraq and acquaintances to finance a fake luxury lifestyle on-board a yacht.
The Stoccos first came to the attention of Riverina police when highway patrol officers noticed the number plates on a silver Nissan Navara didn't match the vehicle.
When the police tried to stop the twin-cab, they were shot at. If it weren't for the brackets of equipment inside the patrol car, it could have been a fatal situation, police later stated.
Two pursuits and another volley of bullets later, the Stoccos were gone. The Navara was found dumped in nearby Kyeamba Creek, and the despite an extensive search of the area by officers from the Wagga Local Area Command and police helicopters, the fugitives wouldn't be seen for another two days.
What they needed was a getaway car, and it is believed that's what the Stoccos found when they allegedly raided a property at Little Billabong.
On October 18, farmer Paul Rogers reported his Landcruiser ute, fitted with a 145L fuel tank, stolen some time overnight. Also taken was a loaf of bread and a couple of cans of Solo.
The white 2013 Landcruiser quickly became one of the most-wanted vehicles in the country.
The next time police see the four-wheel-drive is on CCTV footage from a service station at Euroa, in northern Victoria, where the assailants filled up the tank and paid in cash on October 19. This is the first confirmed sighting of the fugitives since police were shot at.
The following day, police receive reports of at least three sets of numberplates - two Victorian, one South Australian - being stolen from Tumbarumba, just back over the NSW border.
On October 21, the Stoccos are filmed at a supermarket in Bairnsdale, west of Melbourne. However, this information doesn't come to light for several days, when the search is firmly focused on central Victoria.
The same day, Victorian detectives joined the manhunt in light of the Euroa sighting, and another is reported near Glenburn and a command post is established at Yea.
Having worked in the area for a number of years, the Stoccos are back in familiar territory, and believed to be armed with a high-powered SRS rifle and a shotgun.
They were spotted travelling south on the Melba Highway around 9am, and police swarmed the area. Investigators formed a search area and cordoned zone that covered almost 100 square kilometres around Yea.
The next sighting came in the early hours of Thursday, October 22, when the white Landcruiser drives straight past a police checkpoint on the Melba Highway at Castella.
Under orders not to pursue, the police followed the Stoccos for a short time and radioed ahead. Despite losing the fugitives, police remained confident they were within the cordoned zone around Yea.
However, later that day a police car is rammed at St James, near Lake Rowan, back towards the NSW border.
Over the next two days, police remained in the Yea and Wangaratta areas.
The next confirmed sighting of the Stoccos is at a service station at Gundagai, back in the NSW Riverina region, late on Saturday, October 24.
By now dubbed Australia's modern-day bushrangers, the Stoccos stole $200 of diesel from the service station in a drive-off, disappearing into the night once again.
A number of reported sightings in the Riverina were made on Sunday, including around Wagga and Ladysmith.
A large search was made around Tarcutta on Monday, and another 200 kilometres away at West Wyalong later that afternoon. However, no evidence of the Stoccos' presence was found in either search.