Comanchero Tarek Zahed able to live the high life in his new hometown of Melbourne

Tough NSW consorting laws had curtailed Comanchero Tarek Zahed’s ambition, but after leaving Sydney life couldn’t be better for the ‘Gucci Gangster’ who now calls Melbourne home.

For a man who avoided the spotlight for almost 20 years Comanchero Tarek Zahed is doing anything but laying low since moving to Melbourne.

Despite a wide-ranging court order in NSW effectively killing off his role as the ­national sergeant-at-arms he’s seemingly been able to live a hassle-free life as one of the most powerful bikies in Australia.

His move interstate now means he can do almost everything he could not in Sydney, from wearing his gear, associating with members, calling the shots and even spending a night at the Australian Open.

The Saturday Telegraph has obtained a picture from as recently as a few weeks ago showing him with NSW chapter leader Allan Meehan in full Comanchero colours.

Comanchero national sergeant at arms Tarek Zahed (right), pictured with the gang’s NSW commander Allan Meehan (left).

Last month the “Balenciaga bikie” was also able to meet up with a contingent of the Comanchero and lead them on a ride to a Victorian jail in protest of the gang’s members being locked up on remand over the AN0M sting.

Any of which would have seen him potentially jailed in NSW.

Zahed’s meteoric rise through the underworld ranks has been two decades in the making and involves several stints in jail.

From a fresh-faced unknown 20-year-old who set his pitbulls on a woman who hit his car, Zahed has risen to one of the most powerful ­bikies in Australia by night.

In the 20 years since the public first got a glimpse of him he has been to jail for ­seriously violent crimes, risen to the top of the underworld and been dubbed the “Gucci gangster” for his penchant for designer garms.

Tarek Zahed arriving at Downing Centre Court in Sydney but calls Melbourne his new home. Picture: NCA NewsWire

Not bad for a man who just five years ago claimed to be an unemployed truckie.

But it’s the unaccounted for hundreds of thousands of dollars within his reach and his role in a spate of crimes that has seen the cop spotlight shining brightly on him.

Despite having deep roots to the community in southwest Sydney Zahed, a 41-year-old grandfather, is still calling the shots.

One place he could likely be calling home is a posh three-bedroom house in one of the city’s most affluent suburbs registered to him in business papers, one of several companies he has a role in.

The Narre Warren property worth under $1 million is listed as his address for Australian Community Investment Fund Pty, a business he part-owns based in Victoria.

Others, like Zahed Consulting and AMSN Holdings Pty Ltd are based in Sydney where Zahed is listed as also having multiple different properties to his name in ­Yagoona.

Tarek Zahed captured at the Australian Open tennis in Melbourne. Picture: Supplied

Tarek Zahed being restrained outside Downing Centre Court. Picture: Monique Harmer.

The business empire and properties shed new light on the bikie with a love for ­designer garms, who in 2017 claimed he was unemployed and on Centrelink.

The so-called “Gucci gangster” was convicted of lying on an affidavit where he also claimed to earn just $450 a week as a delivery driver to dodge paying $50,000 compensation to a man he had shot.

He had been charged with discharging a firearm to cause grievous bodily harm and given an eight-year ­sentence.

That explanation came unstuck when NSW Police uncovered he was withdrawing close to $500,000 from bank accounts in the name of his young children and laundering hundreds of thousands through the pokies at the Three Swallows Hotel.

He was charged with dealing with the proceeds of crime and sentenced to a year and four months in jail.

At the time in 2020 it had been 20 years since the public had first seen a glimpse of Zahed, who reportedly valued keeping a low profile, when he was snapped entering the Downing Centre.

A young Tarek Zahed outside Parramatta Local Court in 2000 after being charged for setting his four pet pit bull dogs onto a female in a road rage incident.

Inside, Zahed ranted to his lawyer about why his picture was allowed to be taken.

Zahed was virtually unknown at the time, and he probably would have preferred to keep it that way, given the relentless police pressure that has followed.

Back in 2000 a fresh-faced Zahed, with a full head of hair, was fronting court for setting his four pitbulls on a woman after a dispute in Yagoona.

The 44-year-old woman hit his car with a stick after Zahed revved it at her. In retaliation he yelled: “I’ll f … ing kill you, we’re going to get our f … ing dogs” as he let the pitbulls loose.

She sustained serious injuries as she tried to fight the dogs off.

Zahed during a ride with the Comanchero in Victoria last year.

He was charged with maliciously causing a dog to inflict actual bodily harm and given an eight-month sentence.

But there is another Zahed, according to friends. Reportedly, he is so connected in construction circles that when a local gym, Brotherhood Boxn in Greenacre, needed renovating Zahed was the first one to pick up a shovel and call tradies.

It’s a gym his lawyers have argued previously he helps out.

Those who frequent the gym seem bemused as to why their mate ­attracts so much police attention.

“If you need someone to do a barbecue (for the gym) he’s the first person to put his hand up to flip sausages,” one person said.

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