Stuart MacGill’s alleged kidnapper, his partner’s brother, has been charged over the same alleged drug importation plot that saw the cricketer arrested this month.
MacGill, 52, was arrested at Chatswood police station and charged with knowingly taking part in the supply of a large commercial quantity of drugs.
Former Test cricketer Stuart MacGill (left) in 2003 and (right) talking to former teammate-turned-podcaster Shane Lee about his kidnapping ordeal.Credit: Pat Scala; Instagram @imatlunchwithlee
His partner’s brother, Marino Sotiropoulos, was arrested at Kogarah police station on Tuesday afternoon and charged with two counts of supplying a large commercial quantity of drugs.
Police will allege the pair were both involved in the same attempt to import a one-kilogram brick of cocaine worth $300,000.
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Sotiropoulos is the brother of MacGill’s girlfriend, Maria Meagher. Meagher is not accused of any wrongdoing.
But the charges against both MacGill and Sotiropoulos trace back to a police investigation into MacGill’s alleged abduction from his Cremorne home in April 2021.
The former Test cricketer was allegedly bundled into a car and driven to Bringelly, on Sydney’s western edge, where three men allegedly assaulted and threatened him before he was released.
“The first thing I thought was, ‘Jeez, I’m not wearing any undies,’ ” MacGill said of the alleged kidnapping on a podcast with former teammate Shane Lee.
“Then the second thing I thought was – true story, I’m about to get the living ... – I thought, ‘I haven’t groomed.’
“I looked like a 1970s Playboy model.”
Police initially said MacGill was purely a victim and was not accused of any criminal wrongdoing following his alleged kidnapping.
Next month, Sotiropoulos will face trial along with four others accused of kidnapping MacGill.
The alleged kidnapping stemmed from a debt related to the alleged cocaine deal, a police source said.
