Australian South Sudanese rapper Dau Chol Dau has been refused bail after police officers arrested him along with Awier Manyok Ajack at Perth Airport in Australia.

The “CEO of Swish Music” Dau Chol Dau, along with his alleged accomplice Awier Manyok Ajak, were this week refused bail after fronting Perth Magistrate’s Court on 15 counts of property laundering and four counts of stealing each.

The pair were arrested by the Australian Federal Police at Perth Airport on Tuesday after allegedly trying to board a flight to Queensland under fake names and with two stolen Eftpos machines hidden inside their luggage.

Their attempt to leave WA came after they allegedly stole more than $10,000 from small businesses including Honey Creme, Amcal and Tokyo Station Sushi Bar in the CBD; Curry Munchers in Leederville; Optimal Pharmacy in Dianella; and Liquorice Gourmet Foods in Duncraig.

It will be alleged both Mr Dau, 24, and Mr Ajak, 18, stole Eftpos machines from at least four of these shops — all of which reported stolen Eftpos machines to police this week —between May 29 and June 1.

Detective Sergeant Jamie Hutcheson said the pair were part of what police allege is a nationally organized crime syndicate that would “distract a staff member” and then “steal an Eftpos machine and replace it with a compromised machine”.

Dau Chol Dau has been refused bail after police officers arrested him along with Awier Manyok Ajack at Perth Airport. Dau Chol

“This then means that the business is unable to determine if a machine’s been taken because there’s one been replaced, and they usually don’t find out until the end of the day when they do their end-of-day returns,” he said.

The switch takes a mere seconds and allows offenders to refund transactions that were made on that machine earlier in the day to their own bank accounts.

It is extremely rare in WA, says Det-Sgt Hutcheson, and it’s the first time he’s ever come across it.

Mr Dau, a rapper hailing from Ipswich in Queensland, Australia is one of four men who have so far been arrested over the alleged criminal network’s activities across Australia, with two others taken into custody in Joondalup today.

Detective Sergeant Jamie Hutcheson addresses journalists over the Eftpos machine theft arrests.

The self-proclaimed “CEO” of rap collective Swish Records last year told Acclaim magazine he’d “started making music accidentally” but now heads a 12-deep crew he assembled from South Sudan, Zimbabwe, Uganda and New Zealand.

“I knew nothing about music, but I told him let me jump on the beat — and boom,” he said.

In his song Jigga, Mr Dau can be heard rapping the lyrics “I’m running the money, running the metres, scamming those cards and doing them Visas”.

But the music video, which has been viewed 108,000 times, “should not be taken literally” he says, with a disclaimer at the start of the clip from 2019 warning listeners the “lyrics and characters are fictional”.

Police yesterday told media they believed Mr Dau, Mr Ajak and the two other men were only the beginning and that more arrests would follow — with one of the Eftpos machines found in their possession identified to be from South Australia.

“We believe it has also been happening over east … and could be part of an international criminal network operation,” Det-Sgt Hutcheson said, urging businesses to be vigilant and check their Eftpos machines regularly.

“For this kind of crime to be successful, it requires the offenders to physically swap Eftpos machines in the businesses they target, (so) it is imperative that business owners do the best they can to secure their devices.”

Via The West Australian