Sydney lawyer Mahmoud Abbas ‘kidnapped’ months before being shot

The Sydney lawyer shot this week was allegedly kidnapped and had his eyebrows shaved with pictures circulating in the months before a gunman opened fire on him outside his home.

Prominent criminal lawyer Mahmoud Abbas had his head and eyebrows shaved in an alleged kidnapping prior to this week’s shooting.

Sources told the Saturday Telegraph a picture of Mr Abbas, who is not accused of any links to criminal activity or any wrongdoing, had been circulating after he was kidnapped.

Mr Abbas remains in hospital after undergoing three surgeries, with police sources confirming

he had his kidney removed after a bullet went through it.

A shot to the leg narrowly missed his knee cap and he is expected to make a full recovery.

Another of this week’s gangland shooting victims Ferenc David Stemler was a member of the Ahmad organised crime network and spent time inside jail with the family’s feared enforcer, it can be revealed.

Sydney lawyer Mahmoud Abbas.

The revelation sheds new light on the drug importer who on Thursday became the 22nd victim in Sydney’s bloody gangland war.

Underworld sources said Stemler, 28, served time in jail alongside Ahmad family enforcer Mahmoud “Brownie” Ahmad, who died in a hail of bullets at Greenacre last year.

An image taken inside jail of Ferenc David Stemler, 28, who was gunned down in Canterbury this week. Stemler was in prison at the time serving a sentence for drug offences.

One pointed to a helicopter tattoo believed to be the calling card of those linked to the Ahmad crime family.

Ahmad’s step-nephew Rami Iskander, who was also gunned down in Belmore last year, had the same tattoo.

Sources said the meaning behind the helicopter was that it was a play on being considered like “special ops SAS” of the underworld and being “dropped into the war zone”.

Stemler’s links to organised crime will now form a crucial part of the investigation into his slaying, as detectives probe what enemies Stemler made.

Police combing the scene after the shooting. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Simon Bullard

He was currently on bail for drug offences, but had previously served time in prison for similar crimes.

It comes as police prepare for the biggest show of force since the killings began, sending dozens of seasoned officers on the streets of Sydney to blitz organised crime figures.

Stemler criminals links are being investigated by police.

It has since emerged he had connections to the Ahmad organised crime network.

Strike Force Magnus is set to hit the ground running on Saturday in an attempt to suppress the violence that has seen five people shot this week alone.

Stemler and Ahmad Al-Azzam are the 22nd and 23rd victims of the feud since the first shooting in 2020.

A total of 100 of the state’s most seasoned crime-fighters have been assigned to Magnus, which will probe several of the murders across western Sydney this year.