Search for missing grandfather leads to dense bushland near kidnap ‘stronghold’

Police are combing through dense bushland on Sydney’s north-western fringe as the search for the elderly man kidnapped from his North Ryde home intensifies.

It comes four days after a nearby residence believed to be the “stronghold” used by the captors was stormed by detectives, who admit hopes of finding Chris Baghsarian alive are fading.

The 85-year-old was taken hostage on February 13 when up to three men abducted him from his home about 5am in a suspected case of mistaken identity. Baghsarian, a grandfather and widower, lived alone, and police have repeatedly said he and his family have no links to organised crime.

Tactical officers scoured bushland in nearby Glenorie on Sunday afternoon, while a police helicopter was also deployed.

Detectives returned to Glenorie on Monday morning, where officers were congregated outside a vacant block and nearby bushland on Vesperman Road. A convoy of tactical police vehicles have gathered on the side of a rural road, as initial inspections of the nearby bushland begin.

The police dog unit and helicopter is expected to assist officers with investigations on Monday.

Police have established a large perimeter in the expansive rural suburb, where investigators are believed to be combing through a residential property and national park in the northern parts of Glenorie.

It followed the raiding of a Dural property on Friday, where evidence gathered at the property matched images circulating through Sydney’s underworld showing Baghsarian being tortured.

Detectives linked the Dural crime scene to a burnt-out Toyota Corolla destroyed in Westmead on Tuesday.

Baghsarian’s family said in a statement last week that he was deeply loved and a devoted father, brother, uncle and grandfather.

“The kindest person we know – someone who would never hurt a fly,” the family said in a statement released by NSW Police last Tuesday.

“Chris’ kidnapping feels surreal, and we are struggling to make sense of the fact that he has been taken, and that our family has been caught up in something that has nothing to do with us.

“We are living through a nightmare we never thought possible.”

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