He served two years in Europe before being shipped to Australia, where he served two years in solitary confinement, during which time he began work on Shantaram. While smuggling drugs in Europe, Roberts was captured by Frankfurt authorities and imprisoned. He escaped from custody twice more, in Italy and Switzerland, before returning to Bombay. In time, the European police learned of his true identity and arrested him. He had previously worked as an entertainer in Bombay's Bollywood movie industry and appeared in several movies. He went to Afghanistan on a gunrunning operation and was wounded.Īfter a short return to Bombay, Roberts moved to Germany, where he began to work as a singer in a rock band. Roberts was recruited by the Bombay mafia and worked in illegal passports and currency. Like Lin, he established a free clinic in a Bombay slum. Roberts fled to Maharashtra, where he lived in a remote village for six months and learned the Hindu and Marathi languages. Two years later, Roberts escaped from the "escape proof" HM Prison Pentridge in Australia. In 1978, Roberts was captured and imprisoned. He committed these robberies using a fake plastic gun, and he earned a reputation in Australia as "the Gentleman Bandit" due to his polite demeanor during his crimes. Around this time, he began using heroin and took up armed robbery in order to support his habit.
In 1976, Roberts' marriage fell apart and he lost custody of his daughter. Roberts' life took a turn for the worse in the mid-seventies, closely mirroring that of his protagonist in Shantaram. He lists these myriad causes on as follows: "Founder member, Anarchist People’s Liberation Army, 1969 Union activist, Builders Labourers Federation, 1972 Founder member, Australian Independence Movement, United Front Against Fascism, 1973 Student Leader, Melbourne University, occupation of university Council Chambers, 1974 Student Leader, Black Week Aboriginal Activism Movement, 1975." During his student years he was a revolutionary involved in several anarchist and leftist causes. In interviews and on his website, Roberts talks little of his childhood years. Gregory David Roberts was born in 1952 in Melbourne, Australia.
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