NSW:Most Wanted man charged over priest

AAP General News (Australia)
08-10-2011
NSW:Most Wanted man charged over priest

SYDNEY, Aug 10 AAP - The man charged over the alleged 2008 abduction and extortion
of a Greek Orthodox priest was on NSW Police's Most Wanted list.

Mahmoud Challouf, 27, was arrested after he went to Campsie police station, in Sydney's
south, on Wednesday morning.

Earlier in the week, police released an updated version of its Ten Most Wanted people,
which included Challouf, in the form of a public appeal for information.

Police say he recognised his photo from the list.

He is the third person to be arrested over the incident and has been charged with a
number of warrants relating to kidnapping, robbery and fraud offences.

Three days after the incident, police charged two men with the alleged kidnapping and
extortion of Father Philipos Apostolopoulos from his Surry Hills church.

Their aim was to find another man they believed owed them $100,000 from a drug deal,
court documents stated.

After driving the 57-year-old priest to an unknown location and pumping him for information
for several hours, they released him unharmed.

The next day, the hunt for the man and the missing cash led them to allegedly abduct
a second person at gunpoint from his home.

Police said they drove this man to a Sydney park and shot him in the leg with a semi-automatic
pistol and left him bleeding.

Police had described Fr Apostolopoulos and the other victim as "innocent third parties",
the court documents said.

On Wednesday, Challouf was refused police bail and is expected to appear in Burwood Local Court.

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