{"id":479125,"date":"2026-02-14T08:44:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T08:44:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/479125\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T08:44:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T08:44:18","slug":"chris-baghsarian-85-kidnapped-in-reported-case-of-mistaken-identity-in-sydney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/479125\/","title":{"rendered":"Chris Baghsarian, 85, kidnapped in reported case of mistaken identity in Sydney"},"content":{"rendered":"

Police are appealing to kidnappers for the safe return of an elderly man who was mistakenly abducted from his north-west Sydney home.<\/p>\n

Neighbours raised the alarm on Friday at about 5am after hearing a disturbance coming from the North Ryde address where 85-year-old Chris Baghsarian lives.<\/p>\n

Police believe that up to three people, or possibly more, grabbed Mr Baghsarian from his bedroom and bundled him into a car, driving him to another location.<\/p>\n

“We believe that he may have been harmed, but we’re not sure,” Detective Acting Superintendent Andrew Marks said.<\/p>\n

“We’re aware that a vehicle, a dark Toyota SUV, was used, and we have found a vehicle not far from Mr Baghsarian’s home address that was burnt-out that we believe is a vehicle that was used.<\/p>\n

“That was found shortly after police responded.”<\/p>\n

\"Andrew<\/p>\n

Andrew Marks says police believe a dark Toyota SUV was used in the kidnapping. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Mr Baghsarian requires medical help, and the kidnappers have been urged to urgently release him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“You have the wrong person \u2026 Take him to a hospital. Take him to somewhere that’s safe, and we’ll do the rest,” Acting Superintendent Andrew Marks said.<\/p>\n

“If there’s a member of the kidnapped crew that has any common decency, to tell us where he is, you tell us where he is, we’ll do the rest.”<\/p>\n

Family not involved in criminal activity, police say<\/p>\n

His family, according to police, is not involved in any criminal activity and is “quite surprised that this has happened”.<\/p>\n

Police are also appealing for assistance from members of the public who may have information about the kidnapping or may have seen something.<\/p>\n

At the time of the incident, Mr Baghsarian was wearing a blue and maroon flannelette shirt and grey tracksuit pants.<\/p>\n

“Have you a house next door which is normally unoccupied? Have there been any movements around? We’re asking you to consider that,” Acting Superintendent Marks said<\/p>\n

“Have you seen Mr Baghsarian? Have you seen people coming and going from a house that’s not normally occupied, and it’s not normal movements?”<\/p>\n

The force’s Robbery and Serious Crime Squad is investigating the case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Police are appealing to kidnappers for the safe return of an elderly man who was mistakenly abducted from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":479126,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[243538,27609,243539,43,56135,44,243536,4277,243537,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-479125","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-chris-baghsarian","9":"tag-crime-scene","10":"tag-detective-acting-superintendent-andrew-marks","11":"tag-headlines","12":"tag-kidnapping","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-north-ryde","15":"tag-nsw-police","16":"tag-robbery-and-serious-crime-squad","17":"tag-top-news","18":"tag-top-stories","19":"tag-topnews","20":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}