BBC:
Australian police have arrested two men for the murder of a Sydney grandfather they say was mistakenly kidnapped, a day after human remains were found.
Widower Chris Baghsarian, 85, was abducted from his North Ryde home in a pre-dawn raid on 13 February.
Police say he was not the intended target of the alleged attack, which local media have reported may have been aimed at a family with links to organised crime.
On Wednesday, two men, aged 24 and 29, were arrested at two separate homes and taken in for questioning – less than 24 hours after police found a body they believe to be Baghsarian near a golf course on the city outskirts.
No charges have been laid, police said.
Baghsarian’s family have welcomed news of the arrests, and requested the media respect their privacy.
In the days after the kidnapping, police made several pleas for those who had taken the octogenarian to safely return him as he had health issues and needed daily medication.
Authorities said they were “a million percent confident” the wrong man had been taken – neither Baghsarian nor his family had any links to organised crime.
As videos of an injured Baghsarian circled online, his family described their ordeal as a surreal nightmare.
“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,” they said in a statement shortly after the kidnapping.
Police have said the discovery of two burnt out cars and a raid on an abandoned property in Dural led them to an area in Pitt Town where they on Monday found the remains.
Police refused to provide any details on the condition the body was found in, but said an autopsy would be carried out to formally identify the person and determine their cause of death.
Authorities have urged any witnesses who saw anything near the golf course on 14 February – the day after the kidnapping – to contact police.
Cases of mistaken identity have become more common in Sydney’s underworld, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, as large organised crime networks increasingly subcontract crimes.
Last year, a 23-year-old plumber was shot dead in his driveway in Condell Park in what police believe was also a case of mistaken identity.
