Australian police offer record $1 million reward for Indian suspect in murder case
Melbourne (PTI): Police Queensland has announced a record one million dollar reward for the public to catch an Indian nurse who fled to India after allegedly murdering an Australian woman on a beach four years ago in 2018.
Toyah Cordingley, 24, was walking her dog on Wangetti Beach, 40km north of Cairns when she was killed in October 2018, 7news.com reported on Thursday.
Rajwinder Singh, 38, who worked as a nurse in Innisfail, is the key person of interest in the case but fled the country two days after Cordingley was killed, leaving behind his job, wife and three children in Australia, the report added.
Queensland Police is now offering 1 million Australian dollar, the largest ever offered by Queensland police, for information from the public in the ongoing search for Singh, with Detective Acting Superintendent Sonia Smith noting the reward is unique .
We know that Singh departed Cairns on October 22, the day after Toyah was murdered, and then flew from Sydney to India on the 23rd. His arrival in India has been confirmed, she was quoted as saying by 7news.com.
We have confirmed today that the last known location for Singh was India. An investigation centre has also been established in Cairns and police officers from across the state who can speak both Hindi and Punjabi have been flown in, News.com reported.
These officers will be able to receive information from anyone in India who might know Singh's whereabouts via WhatsApp, the report added.
We know that people know this person, they know where this person is and we're asking those people to do the right thing, Police Minister Mark Ryan told reporters on Thursday.
This person is accused of a very heinous crime; a crime which has ripped a family apart.
Deputy Commissioner Tracy Linford said in a statement that this was the first time an initial reward of 1 million Australian dollar had been offered in Queensland.
We are very grateful for the Government's support in approving this significant reward which we believe will assist us in tracking down Rajwinder Singh, she said.
It is critical we capture the attention of an international audience to reach this individual.
Police will not give up we remain incredibly determined to find answers for Toyah's family and will do whatever we can to bring them closure.
Cordingley's mother Vanessa Gardiner spoke on Thursday about the reward and her beautiful, spiritual daughter.
Her life was taken way too early. I see her friends and stuff getting married with kids and that now and think of everything she has missed out on in her life, Gardiner said.
She was just about to start her first full-time job on Monday, which never happened.
If you are in #India please use the numbers on these posters pic.twitter.com/eJwLCuPnyI
— Queensland Police (@QldPolice) November 3, 2022
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Israel launches first airstrike on Lebanon since ceasefire, accusing Hezbollah of breaching truce
Beirut, Nov 28: The Israeli military on Thursday said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.
There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel's aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.
The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah members are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
