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Former cricket star Stuart MacGill’s alleged kidnappers face court

Four men have faced court on multiple charges after allegedly submitting former cricket star Stuart MacGill to a kidnapping ordeal so frightening he waited almost a week to go to police.

MacGill was allegedly forced into a car at Cremorne on Sydney’s north shore about 8pm on April 14.

He was then taken to a remote location at Bringelly in Sydney’s southwest, police say, where three assailants allegedly tried to extort money from the 50-year-old.

About an hour later, MacGill was driven 45 minutes’ away to Belmore, where he was dumped.

MacGill sustained minor injuries but did not require medical treatment.

The men allegedly involved were arrested in dawn raids on Wednesday, and faced court later that day.

Son Minh Nguyen, 42, Marino Sotiropoulos, 46, and Frederick and Richard Schaaf, 27 and 29, did not apply for bail.

Former cricket star Stuart MacGill said he was ‘traumatised’ by the ordeal. Photo: AAP

All men face one kidnapping charge of taking and detaining a person in company to get advantage and occasion actual bodily harm.

Mr Nguyen has additionally been charged with knowingly directing the activities of a criminal group, while Mr Sotiropoulos faces one count for supplying a prohibited drug of a large commercial quantity.

The Schaaf brothers also face a charge each of participating in a criminal group contributing to criminal activity.

Detective Acting Superintendent Anthony Holton said MacGill had only been held for an hour at the property but it would have been a “frightful hour”.

“You’d be questioning what could potentially happen to you in that time,” he said on Wednesday.

“It would be a horribly traumatic experience to endure.”

Police say they will be “closely monitoring” MacGill’s welfare.

The Australian Cricketers’ Association also said they had checked in.

“My primary concern for Stuart today is his wellbeing and for him personally,” chief executive Todd Greenberg said.

“We have reached out to him in a variety of different forms through relationships through the game and my primary message to Stuart is we want to make sure he’s OK.”

-AAP

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