Three people have been charged over their alleged involvement in the kidnapping of a prolific TikTok personality and cafe owner in Sydney’s southwest.
Jacob Najjar, 36, owner of the Thirsty Monkey cafe chain, was assaulted and forced into a vehicle from a unit along Grazier St, Lidcombe, late on Saturday night.
He was found almost 24 hours later nearly 30km away on Lower Washington Dr, Bonnet Bay, with facial injuries.
New South Wales Police established Strike Force Rowallan to investigate, linking the incident to the alleged kidnapping of a 44-year-old man from a shop on Park Rd, Regents Park, on October 6.
Inquiries led detectives to arrest two men, 28 and 30, and a 17-year-old boy at Regents Park on Friday night.
The eldest man was charged with two counts of kidnapping, bodily harm, conspiracy to kidnap, and knowingly direct activities of a criminal group.
The younger man and the teenager were charged with two counts of kidnapping, bodily harm, breaking and entering, two counts of contributing to a criminal group, conspiracy to kidnap, and two driving offenses.
They were all refused bail, to appear in court on Saturday.
Thirsty Monkey posted a video on their TikTok account on Wednesday showing Mr Najjar back at work following his alleged ordeal.
“Thank you for everyone’s concerns, Jacob is fine and he’s back at work, people spreading fake news, trying to get some viewers & following on this app,” reads the video caption.
“You know what the news are like, anything for some clickbait,” Najjar said in the video.
“Don’t worry about the news, don’t worry about anything. We’re still open and we’re still grinding.”