Real History and the origins of anti-semitism Index to the Traditional Enemies of Free Speech Alphabetical index (text) [images added by this website, courtesy DEA and http://www.ukar.org] November 15, 2003 Russian mafia links in disappearance By Natalie O’Brien, Investigations editor JOHN and Suree were married six weeks after they met through Partner Search Australia , a Melbourne dating agency now at the centre of a murder investigation.
But even before the wedding day, the couple were getting menacing calls from the agency. They demanded thousands of dollars, John told The Weekend Australian . “They said to me: ‘Don’t you know how much she is worth?” Then just days after the marriage, Suree vanished. The love story had taken a chilling turn. Over the past three years John has felt trapped in a nightmare. There were death threats. He found evidence the dating agency was connected with prostitution.
Last month, the owners of Partner Search Australia were shot dead at their Sunbury property. Istvan “Steve” Gulyas and his girlfriend, Tina Nhonthachith , were cremated last week. Two months after she first vanished, Suree returned home to her husband, then vanished again. He has not seen her since. Like Gulyas, the murdered dating agency boss, Suree had revealed that her life had been threatened.
And, like Gulyas, who installed massive security at his property, Suree had begged John to do the same. But even with a steel security door, higher fences and more security lights, they slept with a loaded gun by their bed. Suree never revealed who had threatened her or why. “She was not the same innocent woman I had married,” John said. “She was scared and would not answer the phone or go outside without me.”
An investigation by The Weekend Australian has revealed the authorities were asked to investigate the agency and its shady operations when Suree first disappeared. They were told Asian women working as prostitutes were being held at an address in Coburg and at the Sunbury property. A joint operation by the Immigration Department and state and federal police did not find enough evidence to continue an inquiry. Frustrated, John complained to the federal Ombudsman and wrote to his local member.
Senator Kay Patterson , then parliamentary secretary to the Immigration Minister, told him that contrary to what the AFP had told him immigration “continues to have an interest in the operations of Partner Search and Suree”. The case was reviewed again in May this year, at the height of revelations in The Australian about the extent of sex trafficking in Australia. But an Immigration spokeswoman said no fresh leads had been found.
But since the initial investigation, John has received phone calls from a frightened Suree, begging him for a airline ticket. A letter arrived for Suree from a Thai woman in Australia. It appears that the letter writer “Oi” may have been a “contract” girl being kept against her will. She wrote: “I want to