Crime expert compares recent Australian gang-related violence to the streets of ... trends now
Ongoing gang warfare in Sydney including a horrifying alleged kidnapping during which a man had his teeth ripped out has been likened to the streets of crime-ridden Brazil.
Peter Vuong, 26, was allegedly ambushed at a home in Smithfield, in Sydney's west, about 5.20am last Thursday by a group of six men wearing face-coverings and armed with sledgehammers and firearms.
The men are accused of pursuing revenge over a botched drug deal involving one of Mr Vuong's relatives.
Police will allege Mr Vuong was held for five days at a rundown home on Canterbury Road in Belmore, in Sydney's southwest, and suffered intense 'physical violence', allegedly being attacked with a sledgehammer and having his teeth ripped out.
Mr Vuong was rescued by dozens of heavily armed tactical police officers on Tuesday in Belmore, southwest Sydney
Police will allege Mr Vuong (left) suffered intense 'physical violence', allegedly being attacked with a sledgehammer and having his teeth ripped out
He was rescued on Tuesday night by dozens of heavily armed tactical police officers.
Criminologist Xanthe Mallet said she had 'never seen anything like' the alleged kidnapping in Australia before.
'This is the kind of thing you would expect in South America - Brazil - for example,' she told the Today Show on Thursday.
'To have somebody be kidnapped, held for this long and to be very violently assaulted is quite extraordinary'.
Brazil has one of the highest crime rates in the world, with epidemic levels of violent crime and homicide.
Organized crime in South America's largest country has expanded in recent years and violence between rival groups is a regular occurrence.
Criminologist Xanthe Mallet likened the violent alleged kidnapping of Peter Vuong to gang-related crime experiened in Brazil (stock image of Brazilian police pictured)
Ms Mallet said she believed the types of offences associated with gang-related crime in Australia had shifted in recent years.
'We're seeing people being shot in the street, total disregard for the public, for families,' she said.
'I think the police are concerned about the different types of violence because the rule book seems to have been thrown out with some of these organised gangs.'
Ms Mallet said the alleged kidnapping of Mr Vuong was 'very frightening'.
'I'm sure that everybody in
