{"id":792962,"date":"2026-07-11T06:25:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T06:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/792962\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T06:25:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T06:25:14","slug":"elderly-man-tied-up-with-cable-ties-as-thieves-steal-guns-and-set-house-alight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/792962\/","title":{"rendered":"Elderly man tied up with cable ties as thieves steal guns and set house alight"},"content":{"rendered":"

A 76-year-old man was allegedly assaulted, tied up and dragged from his home before it was set on fire during a \u201cvicious\u201d targeted attack on Tasmania\u2019s east coast this morning.<\/p>\n

The man, who lived alone on a large rural property at Coles Bay, was found in his yard with his hands and feet bound after emergency services were called to a house fire around 7am on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Police say two men wearing balaclavas and dark clothing forced their way into the home about 5am and assaulted him with a crowbar.<\/p>\n

They repeatedly demanded access to his firearms safe before stealing nine registered firearms and a quantity of cash.<\/p>\n

\"\"A white 1998 Toyota Hilux with a red Hiab crane was allegedly stolen. Image \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

The men allegedly bound him with cable ties, dragged him into the yard and set the house alight. The home was destroyed.<\/p>\n

Before fleeing, they stole his white 1998 Toyota Hilux single-cab ute, which has a red crane, three spotlights and a light bar.<\/p>\n

\"\"Detective Inspector David Gill said police believed the incident was targeted. Image \/ Pulse (File)<\/p>\n

The man was treated by paramedics at the scene and taken to the Royal Hobart Hospital, where he remains in a serious but stable condition.<\/p>\n

Inspector David Gill said the firearms had been stored securely and the man was assaulted until he opened the safe.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one can imagine the fear and apprehension that this man has suffered, nor the anguish that his family members and friends are currently going through,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Inspector Gill said the property, which sits about half a kilometre from the road, had been specifically targeted.<\/p>\n

\"\"The intruders allegedly demanded access to a firearms safe inside the home. Image \/ Pulse<\/p>\n

He said there was no known connection between the offenders and the victim.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll we do know is that this is clearly a targeted attack to steal firearms,\u201d Gill said.<\/p>\n

Authorities had previously received a report about suspicious behaviour at the property on June 25, when the owner spotted and scared off three people.<\/p>\n

Police believe a vehicle was used to ram a gate at the property before being dumped. A helicopter is assisting with the investigation.<\/p>\n

Officers are also investigating a suspicious vehicle seen at the Triabunna Roadhouse around 8:15am today as part of the broader inquiry.<\/p>\n

Police are urging anyone with information to come forward, particularly anyone who may have seen the stolen Hilux.<\/p>\n

Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 131 444 or Crime Stoppers anonymously, quoting 810474.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 76-year-old man was allegedly assaulted, tied up and dragged from his home before it was set on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":792963,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-792962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792962","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=792962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/792963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=792962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=792962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=792962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}