Dib and Hassan Barakat emerge as main rivals to Fadi Haddara in Melbourne’s tobacco wars
The relatively unknown Barakat brothers have risen through the grisly underworld to become the key challenger in Melbourne’s firey tobacco wars. Now the pair have joined forces with Sam ‘The Punisher’ Abdulrahim.
Victoria
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A secretive Melbourne family has emerged as a key player in Victoria’s devastating tobacco wars.
The relatively unknown Barakat brothers, Dib and Hassan, are believed to have joined forces with boxer Sam ‘The Punisher’ Abdulrahim to overtake Kazem ‘Kaz’ Hamad as Fadi Haddara’s biggest threat, police sources have told the Herald Sun.
Intelligence reports also state Hamad – who was previously believed to have been orchestrating the brazen arson attacks from overseas – is now thought to be responsible for only about 20 of the 100 firebombings that have plagued the state since March last year.
The Barakat brothers are now said to be his “fiercest rivals”.
Dib and Hassan Barakat – fruit and vegetable wholesalers in Melbourne’s west – are well known to law enforcement having been charged for bringing in 8.5 million cigarettes in three airfreight consignments in 2014 and 2015.
The haul would have avoided $4m in tax and earnt them more than $1.2m in pure profit, an Australian Border Force supervisor testified at the time.
Hassan, then considered the “principal” offender, was punished in November 2019 with a prison sentence of at least 2½ years and Dib received 10 months’ jail.
But they immediately appealed and six months later had their sentences slashed. Hassan was ordered to serve just two years and Dib eight months.
The brothers, who had come to Australia from Lebanon in the early 2000s, were described as “model citizens” with “excellent prospects of rehabilitation”.
But police sources claim since their release they have rapidly risen up the criminal food chain with Dib now being the main orchestrator.
It is understood the Barakats, of Altona, used to work alongside the Haddaras, but Hassan – known as “Huss” – “came into conflict” with Fadi prior to their imprisonment and were now “warring as the fiercest rivals”.
Authorities are probing whether the Barakats have now teamed up with boxer Abdulrahim.
Wolf Cafe and Eatery in Altona North, owned by the Barakats, has been firebombed as well as Barakat Grocery Store in Hoppers Crossing, twice.
Social media postings show the pair living a lavish lifestyle, flying first class and posing next to luxury vehicles including BMWs and Mercedes with personalised number plates, wearing designer watches. They are both also pictured holding firearms despite Victoria Police slapping them with firearm prohibition orders.
In court they were represented by top barristers Robert Richter KC and Philip Dunn KC.
The Barakats were also close to Mohammed “Afghan Ali” Akbar Keshtiar.
Afghan Ali was deeply involved in illegal tobacco, working with the Haddaras, before being shot dead in a laneway off Chapel Street in South Yarra in August last year.
Police suspected Kaz Hamad was behind the brazen hit.
It is also understood the Barakats have recently moved into the Queensland tobacco market, standing over shops there.
Abdulrahim has survived being sprayed with bullets twice, had his home torched and businesses linked to him set alight.
Venues he was due to box at have also been targeted.
Alleged crime boss Fadi Haddara, who also emigrated from Lebanon and also now lives in Altona, controlled the illegal tobacco market largely unopposed for more than a decade – until now. It is believed he still runs the biggest tobacco syndicate in Victoria.
Last year he was charged with having three handguns and a homemade rifle. Fadi is also the subject of a firearms order. He is contesting the charges.
Haddara has had tobacco shops, a restaurant and other businesses firebombed on multiple occasions.
It has long been thought Haddara’s closest rival was exiled crime boss Kaz Hamad.
Hamad was released from prison last year and deported to his native Iraq. It is believed he now lives in Dubai where he wages war from afar.
But police sources say he is responsible for only a fraction of the arsons.
Police have charged his West Australian-based brother, Maytham Hamad, who detectives allege co-ordinated firebombings in Victoria.
Detectives have also charged Kaz’s “regional operations manager” Majid Alibadi, who they allege planned and facilitated arson.
Last month the Herald Sun revealed there had been 100 fires linked to the tobacco wars since March 2023.
There have also been shootings and a murder suspected of being linked to the conflict.
A law enforcement source said authorities knew “real trouble was brewing” in late 2022.
At that time it was estimated an individual criminal syndicate could earn up to $20m in a single month.
Underworld sources say gangs pay up to $250,000 to bring a container of cigarettes to Melbourne from the United Arab Emirates or China, but earn up to $13m in profit.
This means they need to get only one container in 30 through customs to make a profit.
Due to the insufficient penalties in place, the syndicates deem it a low-risk, high-reward crime.
And because the federal government keeps raising the tax on cigarettes – the most recent on September 1 – it is driving more and more smokers to the black market, where they can buy a packet for about $20 instead of $60.
Victoria is also the only state or territory in the country without a tobacco licensing scheme, something that severely hampered Victoria Police when it started its investigations into the war.
Detective Inspector Graham Banks, of Taskforce Lunar, said it was lucky an innocent person had not been killed.
“Taskforce Lunar was formed in October 2023 and they have a significant focus on the organised crime syndicates involved and their broader criminality,” he told the Herald Sun. “This includes the illicit tobacco trade and arson attacks, but also other serious and violent offending.
“We are committed to the disruption of these groups, the investigation of offences and the enforcement of criminals.
“Police have been incredibly blunt about the risk this criminality brings, in particular the indiscriminate arson attacks on business premises, and we’re lucky that no one has been killed. That risk hasn’t gone away and won’t go away for as long as these fires keep occurring.”
Inspector Banks said almost all tobacco shop landlords had been warned illicit products were being sold from their premises, making them a risk to firebombings and rendering any insurance void.
He asked for people with information to come forward.
“We need support from the public – we need people to come to us with information, we need people to stop giving organised crime their money and their business, and we need landlords to consider who it is they are renting a premises to and what risk they bring,” he said.
“More than ever, assistance and information from store owners, staff, other shop owners and members of the community is crucial. The intelligence they can provide may be crucial in preventing an arson attack or holding those involved in serious criminality to account.”
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers, free and anonymously, on 1800 333 000 or online at www.crimestoppers.com.au.
Originally published as Dib and Hassan Barakat emerge as main rivals to Fadi Haddara in Melbourne’s tobacco wars
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