Today's Age reports (under 'Accused Chaouk's mother turns on media outside court') that -
Detective Acting Sergeant Timothy Kennedy said the raid at the Chaouk's Old Geelong Road home had also unearthed 36 blank passports missing for 14 years. ... The detective said the 36 blank passports - allegedly stolen from a Canberra printer - had been identified as some of 100 missing since 1996.The accused, Omar Chaouk, 18, was remanded in custody on eight firearms charges in a hearing at Melbourne Magistrates Court. The police argued that Chaouk posed a threat to public safety because of his "access to weapons" (a pump-action shotgun and a Smith and Wesson revolver were found in a wood pile during the pre-dawn raid) and his "family's pre-disposition to violence". He was also characterised as a flight risk.
The family is reported as being "well known to police", with members having been charged with deception, drug trafficking, serious assaults and car rebirthing.
It is interesting to see the rediscovery of the blank passports, theft of blanks (and, in the case of Papua New Guinea, of the device holding that nation's passport database) being noted in my doctoral dissertation.
In Re Chaouk [2010] VSC 315 King J states
[20] Of real concern is that, on 1 July 2010, police raided what I would refer to as the family home, that is the home where his mother, father and young brother regularly lived, his wife was then living, and another brother, Walid, was present. During that raid, the police located a number of items, including two loaded firearms, a shotgun and a handgun, as well as 36 blank Australian passports. It was submitted by counsel that they were not usable, because they are not the new electronic passports and, therefore, are not of any real use, and that they could have been there a long time, having been stolen in 1996.
21] The passports are not incapable of use, as the non-electronic passport still has quite a few years left before it becomes obsolete. I made that observation in court, and explained then, and I will repeat it now. I travel on a non-electronic passport which has at least three years before expiry. ...
[32] I am of the view that even these conditions cannot alleviate the risks that I find you present. You and your family clearly have had access to significant items associated with flight, the possession of 36 blank Australian passports. These are items not easily obtained by anyone without significant criminal connections. If that type of material has been obtained once, it is possible that the connections to obtain similar material remain open and available. That, combined with the two loaded firearms found at the premises and your connection with the Hells Angels members, both on that night and subsequently, the threats made to the victim, and to and about the victim's sister. I do not believe that ordering you to avoid international points of departure, hand in your passport, or abide by a curfew, would be sufficient in any way. It would be almost insulting to say you should hand in a passport, when there are potentially another 36 in the cupboard, or hidden somewhere in the home. Reporting on a daily basis would not prevent you from fleeing, or representing a danger to the witnesses, or the community at large.
