How a $275k underworld bounty allegedly turned Zaid Abdelhafez against his best mate Salim Hamze
The childhood best friend of a teenage gangster allegedly shot him and his innocent father dead on behalf of the Alameddines and is now wanted on an international arrest warrant.
Police & Courts
Don't miss out on the headlines from Police & Courts. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The childhood best friend of a teenage gangster allegedly shot him and his innocent father dead on behalf of the Alameddines and is now wanted on an international arrest warrant.
Zaid Abdelhafez, then 21, was allegedly paid a massive $275,000 to gun down his mate Salim Hamze, 18, and in the crossfire his innocent father Toufik Hamze, 64, outside their Guildford home on October 20, 2021.
NSW Police earlier this month arrested Masood Zakaria and Adam Achrafi in Sydney, and issued arrest warrants for Rafat Alameddine, John-Ray Bayssari and Abdelhafez — all three of who are believed to be living overseas.
Police allege all five men were part of the Alameddine organised crime network and played a role in the deaths of Salim and Toufik, as part of the group’s ongoing war with the Hamzy family.
Underworld sources told The Daily Telegraph they were shocked when the arrest warrant was issued for Abdelhafez, because of how close he was to Salim.
“They were best friends, not just good mates, but the best of friends,” one source said.
Police sources confirmed they, too, were aware of the strong links between Abdelhafez and his alleged victim.
Abdelhafez allegedly continued living in Sydney for more than a year after the double murder, before suddenly buying a return ticket to Dubai and then cancelling the second leg once overseas.
His current location living in exile is unknown.
Salim had been a key player in Sydney’s bloody underworld war between the Alameddines and Hamzys in the months prior to his death.
On June 7, 2021, he tried to kill Asaad Alahmad, the brother-in-law of Rafat Alameddine, before two months later on August 6 murdering Shady Kanj, a low-level Alameddine drug runner.
At just 18, Hamze had committed a murder and an attempted murder, as well as possibly being linked to several other shootings.
By the second half of 2021 he was firmly on the radar of police, and on September 10 they visited him at his mother’s home in Auburn to serve him with a firearm prohibition order (FPO) in an effort to curb his penchant for violence going forward.
But when police knocked on his door Salim tried to flee on foot, jumping a fence and running before being arrested a short time later.
Officers arrested him and after finding a gun in the door of his vehicle.
Hamze was also by this stage firmly on the radar of the rival Alameddine crime clan.
Police sources said it would be alleged that as a result of his bloodlust for the Alameddines, they set out to kill Salim and created a group chat on encrypted messaging app Stealth called: “It’s time”.
That group chat allegedly contained Zakaria, Achrafi, Alameddine, Bayssari and Abdelhafez.
Abdelhafez allegedly posted in the group after the double murder about having to wash the gunshot residue off his clothes with “vinegar”.
In one of the other messages sent in the chat, one of the more senior Alameddine members allegedly told his associates: “(Everything) will be OK as long as everyone sticks solid and no one talks”.
In addition to the evidence from the group chat, police also allegedly discovered Abdelhafez’s DNA in the black Lexus SUV.
On the morning Salim and Toufik Hamze were gunned down, the teenager had arrived at his father’s home to travel to work together.
Toufik had led an honest life, working in the construction industry for decades, and had been trying to get his son back on the straight and narrow by getting him a job as a labourer.
Salim had only just got into the red workman’s ute to drive them to work when CCTV captures a gunman getting out of a black Lexus SUV and running up to the driver’s side door.
But as the balaclava-clad gunman reached the ute, he slipped on the dewy grass.
After regaining his composure he fired a bevy of shots that, despite the best efforts of paramedics and police to revive Toufik on his front lawn, proved fatal for both men.
Having emptied his gun the gunman ran back to the silver Lexus SUV, where a second firearm was allegedly waiting.
CCTV shows the Lexus pulling up in line with the red ute before one of the two men inside fires more shots towards Salim and Toufik.
As all this occurs, a woman and young child can be seen in the CCTV hiding behind a parked car, while parents, unaware of what has just unfolded, drive around the getaway vehicle, in a hurry to get their children to school.
Police allege Abdelhafez was one of two men in the silver Lexus that morning, but it is unclear if he was in driver or passenger seat.
NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Michael Fitzgerald said earlier this month it would be alleged that those arrested, and those who are wanted on international warrants, acted in a “joint criminal enterprise”.
“(They) were directly involved in the planning, resourcing and execution of the murders of Toufik and Salim in a joint criminal enterprise,” Asst Comm Fitzgerald said of the police allegations.
“While those three (alleged) offenders are currently overseas, I want to make it very clear that if they do not return to Australia, that we will use all our powers within our Commonwealth and international partners, to bring them back before the courts here.”
Do you know more? Message 0481 056 618 or email tips@dailytelegraph.com.au
Man charged after crash during police pursuit in Hurstville
A man has been charged with multiple offences after a dramatic police pursuit through Hurstville ended in a crash involving a bus and an SUV, sending one woman to hospital.
Read more
Factory blaze sparks crime scene probe in Sydney’s southwest
A late-night inferno has destroyed a large quantity of goods at a factory and storage yard in Sydney’s southwest, with police now treating the site as a crime scene.
Read more