Australian man arrested for bikie murder in Pattaya.Ex-bikie gang member kidnapped in Thailand
http://www.theage.com.au/world/australi ... lfmh6.html
Wayne Rodney Schneider, a former Australian Hells Angels motorcycle gang member, has been beaten unconscious and kidnapped at gunpoint from his home in Thailand.
A key suspect in the kidnapping and murder of former Sydney Hells Angel bikie and underworld figure Wayne Scheinder in Thailand has turned himself in.
Sources have told Fairfax Media Sydney man Antonio Bagnato, 26, was detained in Phnom Penh after handing himself in. He may have since been extradited to Bangkok.
Mr Bagnato is wanted for questioning over the death of Mr Schneider, whose naked body was found in a shallow grave near the Thai tourist city of Pattaya on Monday.
Wayne Schneider's body was found in a two-metre-deep grave in roadside bushes near a Chinese temple.
However, Fairfax Media understands Mr Bagnato is also wanted to for questioning over the shooting of Brad Dillon in Sydney last year.
Dillon, 25, was shot five times at close range outside Market Place in Leichhardt in August, 2014.
Fairfax Media has been told discussions were going on between Mr Bagnato's lawyers and NSW detectives about bringing Mr Bagnato back to Australia to face allegations relating to Mr Dillon's death.
Wayne Rodney Schneider was one of NSW's 10 most wanted in 2006.
Diego Carbone has already been charged with his murder after being arrested as he attempted to board a flight to Thailand from Sydney last year.
Mr Bagnato's lawyer Theo Tsambas said he was aware his client handed himself into the Australian Federal Police (AFP) in Cambodia.
"I can also confirm that the Australian embassy in Cambodia know about him but have not seen him or don't know where he is," he told Fairfax Media on Friday.
"I am told that he was taken back by the AFP to Bangkok. It is my understanding having spoken to family members that he is currently at a police station in Bangkok."
He also confirmed he was aware Mr Bagnato was an alleged "co-accused in the matters of Diego Carbone and the shooting at Leichhardt".
A spokeswoman for the AFP declined to comment on the arrest.
Mr Carbone's case was mentioned in the NSW Supreme Court on Friday. The court heard there had been "developments" in the case with an associated defendant being taken into custody by the AFP or Cambodian police.
Thai police say they have now identified the five masked gunmen who kidnapped Mr Schneider and buried his naked body with a broken neck in a two-metre grave in woodlands a short drive from his rented home in the Thai tourist city of Pattaya early Monday.
A 21 year-old American man identified as Tyler Gerard has confessed to his involvement in the murder in a major breakthrough into investigations into alleged Australian criminal networks in Thailand, according to Thai media reports.
Police said Mr Gerard, who was arrested on Wednesday as he attempted to cross the Thai border into Cambodia, initially only confessed to involvement in the kidnapping but later admitted during interrogation to also being involved in the murder.
He pointed police to a reservoir where Mr Scheinder's clothes and other items were dumped after he was killed early Monday, Thai media quoted police as saying.
Police have prepared arrest warrants for three suspects as they stepped-up a nationwide hunt for them. Police have also detained Mr Bagnato's Thai wife Siraphat Saimart, 25, over the rental of a black Toyota pick-up truck that was used in the abduction.
She told police she did not know the vehicle would be used in the kidnapping but that Mr Bagnato had instructed her to delete all the text messages in her mobile telephone that related to the renting the vehicle.
Ms Saimart is being held at a Thai military base.
Fairfax Media has reported a source in Melbourne as saying Mr Schneider was cashed up at the time of the abduction after recently returning to Thailand with the proceeds of a large drug trafficking operation in Europe.
The source said Mr Schneider's new bank balance was well known among Australian bikie gangs and that it was not the first time he had been stood over.
Fairfax Media also revealed former Victorian Comanchero president, Amad "Jay" Malkoun, who was once considered the state's most powerful bikie boss, was interviewed by Thai authorities as a witness to the abduction.
Malkoun told the Bangkok Post he slept through the entire ordeal and only learnt Schneider was missing from police.
Thai police and Australian law enforcement agencies have been investigating Australian motorcycle gang members in Thailand, most of whom do not have legitimate work permits, despite appearing to have extensive business interests in the country.
About a month ago, Mr Schneider reportedly arrived in Thailand, paying about $5000 to rent a villa for six months.
Mr Schneider was a convicted drug trafficker who had also been charged with obstructing the Australian Crime Commission after he failed to give evidence during a coercive hearing.
He had been a member of the Lone Wolf motorcycle gang, and crossed to the Angels' Sydney chapter in acrimonious circumstances about 2008.
Mr Schneider spent 18 months on NSW's "most wanted" list over the shooting of a bouncer in 2007 although the charges were later dropped.
He was found with more than $200,000 in betting chips and plaques from Melbourne's Crown Casino in 2009 that were suspected of being the proceeds of crime.
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