Chris Baghsarian was kidnapped from outside his North Ryde home. Photo \/ NSW Police<\/p>\n
A dark Toyota SUV, believed to have been used in the kidnapping, was later found burnt out nearby in North Turramurra.<\/p>\n
Speaking to reporters on Monday, New South Wales police Detective Acting Superintendent Andrew Marks said he believed Baghsarian was \u201cstill alive\u201d and urged the kidnappers for his safe return.<\/p>\n
He said the kidnappers had the wrong person. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know why they have not released him, other than to say that we\u2019ve put the appeal out to say they have the wrong man,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
No ransom has been delivered by the hostage\u2019s family, he confirmed.<\/p>\n
Marks said police had no idea where Baghsarian was.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey took Mr Baghsarian while he was at home, in his bedroom of his family home, and they took him and bundled him into a car and took him away to a location that we do not know,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPolice consider that Mr Baghsarian was not the intended target.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baghsarian\u2019s family was not involved in any criminal activity, Marks said, and was distressed by the kidnapping.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that these common offences usually involve those that are involved in organised crime networks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir family are in distress. All they want is their father to be returned, their grandfather to be returned.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marks said this incident was not common, and he was \u201ca million % confident\u201d the 85-year-old was the wrong target.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis family are quite concerned,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re quite surprised that this has happened, and what they want is a safe return of their father.\u201d<\/p>\n
Baghsarian also requires daily medication and police hold fears for his health.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing a hostage, we really fear for his safety and we\u2019re appealing for a very safe return and to get medical attention,\u201d Marks said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing an 85-year-old man, we suspect that he may not be doing well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marks urged the kidnappers to release Baghsarian.<\/p>\n
\u201cTake him to a hospital. Take him to somewhere that\u2019s safe, and we\u2019ll do the rest. We\u2019ll get him the medical treatment that is required,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
NSW Premier Chris Minns on Monday said Baghsarian\u2019s family were \u201cdistraught\u201d, urging the kidnappers to do the right thing and reunite him with his family.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not too late to end the situation. We want to say to the people responsible, please \u2013 this is a man who\u2019s over 80 years old \u2013 please return him to his family,\u201d Minns said.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet police know where he\u2019s currently located or alternatively drop Mr Baghsarian off at a shopping centre or an emergency department or even a nursing home. We urge them to do that as soon as possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a distressing situation. We want to reunite Mr Baghsarian with his family and we\u2019re asking whoever\u2019s responsible to do it as an act of humanity today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.<\/p>\n
Sign up to Herald Premium Editor\u2019s Picks<\/a>, delivered straight to your inbox every Friday. Editor-in-Chief Murray Kirkness picks the week\u2019s best features, interviews and investigations. Sign up for Herald Premium here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chris Baghsarian was kidnapped from outside his North Ryde home. Photo \/ NSW Police A dark Toyota SUV,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":286665,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[159590,1121,15453,2109,209,305,42,18558,78,185,20920,20925,5158,6501,112399,43,675,1527,96261,5659,8841,1734,40,38,41,39,11226,25152],"class_list":{"0":"post-286664","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-85yearold","9":"tag-case","10":"tag-elderly","11":"tag-family","12":"tag-group","13":"tag-have","14":"tag-headlines","15":"tag-identity","16":"tag-in","17":"tag-is","18":"tag-kidnapped","19":"tag-kidnapping","20":"tag-man","21":"tag-missing","22":"tag-mistaken","23":"tag-news","24":"tag-police","25":"tag-return","26":"tag-safely","27":"tag-say","28":"tag-suspected","29":"tag-sydney","30":"tag-top-news","31":"tag-top-stories","32":"tag-topnews","33":"tag-topstories","34":"tag-urged","35":"tag-wrong"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}