KIDNAPPED JEW FOUND ALIVE: VICTORIAN CASE

Greymouth Evening Star, 3 October 1949, Page 5

KIDNAPPED JEW FOUND ALIVE: VICTORIAN CASE

MELBOURNE, This Day (Rec. 11 a.m.). —Solomon Ravdell, the 69-year-old Jewish businessman, who was kidnapped from his South Yarra home last Wednesday night, has been found alive. In a weak condition with a bandaged head and blackened eyes, he staggered to a door of a house in Springvale road, 12 miles from Melbourne, late last night. He was tended by the householder and. then driven to a police station. Mr Ravdell was too dazed to give a .connected story until early this morning. r , He then said that when, he opened the door of his house on Wednesday night he was immediately struck on the head with a hard instrument. Ransom Demand Alleged He was! then dragged to a car, pushed on the floor in the back and told to stay there. The car was driven away at high speed, while two men in the back with him tied his hands behind his back and cpm 4 - pletely bandaged his eyes with white adhesive tape. He bled freely from the nose and lost consciousness. The next thing he remembered was being in a house where there was a woman and a man. The woman fed him thrice, daily with water, cups of tea and bread. During his imprisonment the man told him he would be released on the payment of £20,000. Ravdell replied that neither he nor his son could afford such an amount. He was held in a small room; with a single bed for four days and five nights and kept bound and , blindfolded all the time. ■ Last night his kidnappers carried him to a car. After driving for some time they slowed the car down and pushed him out. Previously they had cut his bonds and secured his arms by buttoning 1 them into ■ bis waistcoat.

Became Too Dangerous. When he stood up he freed, his arms and in removing the eye bandage tore out with it a great deal of his hair. He tried unsuccessfully to attract the attention of passing cars. Then he reached a house from Which he was taken to a police station.

Detectives believe that the kidnappers released Ravdell because the police net had tightened, making it too dangerous foi- them to hold him. A police inspector said he hoped for an early arrest. He was certain the Ravdell family had not paid any ransom. The original police suspects were still the men the police were after.

Before Ravdell was found, detectives drove from Melbourne to search two large properties in Gippsland between 100 and 200 miles east of Melbourne. The Ravdell family owns a 2500-acre property worth £20,000 in this area.

Story Of Arms Deal A transaction connected with the shipment of munitions from New Guinea to the Stern Gang in Palestine is believed to have been the major factor behind the kidnapping last week of Ravdell. The investigators believe that Ravdell had connections with men who were involved in more than one. such deal inarms.,,, that were intended for the Jewish terrorists in Palestine. One deal led to a dispute as to £15,000 worth of war equipment. The story involves a trail of intrigue reaching from the abandoned battlefields of New Guinea to Melbourne, London, and Tel Aviv. It is believed that the dispute started iff 1948, when a certain syndicate purchased a large consignment of radio equipment and explosives in New Guinea. Portions of these goods were resold in Australia, and were then consigned, as commercial, goods, through London to the Middle East. When the goods reached their destination, they were alleged to. have been spoiled by tropical conditions, and the consignees refused to give payment. The Australian buyer then asked the syndicate for a refund, but this was refused, on the ground that the goods had been bought and sold in good faith. The buyer, then accepted the delivery of a further consignment but he deducted £l5OO from the purchase price. This is the first kidnapping case in Victorian history, and the law provides no specific penalty for it, though the perpetrators could’ be charged with demanding money by menaces.