Interpol hunt for NT ATM robbers
AN INTERNATIONAL fugitive, who was arrested in Darwin over an interstate ATM robbery spree, has been linked to the death of eight men whose bodies were found in a shipping container.
During his sentencing over the ATM charges in a NSW court last week, the court heard Kosovo-born Aniello Vinciguerra, 37, went on the run from Interpol in 2001 after eight illegal immigrants were found dead in a freight container that travelled from Italy, via Belgium, to Ireland.
He was arrested in Darwin in September 2014 with three Albanians – Simon Sheu, George Nika and Marsel Boka.
Darwin police swooped on the gang in December 2014, after they had travelled to the Northern Territory via South Australia to scope out ATMs.
Vinciguerra came to Australia in 2014 using a fake Italian passport.
He linked up with the Albanians, who had already netted hundreds of thousands of dollars from ATM robberies.
The group cased out ATM locations by day and opened them up at night using oxyacetylene torches.
In some locations they just ripped them out of the structure of the building.
By the time they were arrested, police allege they had stolen more than $580,000 in a spree that started in Victoria and continued through NSW and Queensland.
Nika, Sheu and Boka pleaded guilty to the NSW offences and have been jailed for 12, 11 and 14 years respectively.
Vinciguerra was sentenced to 15 years’ jail with a non-parole period of 10 years. He then faces extradition to Belgium to see out his jail term over the shipping container deaths.