Rafat Alameddine continues to live it up overseas as NSW Police issue fresh arrest warrant

Rafat Alameddine is living it up in Lebanon, half a world away from NSW, where police have now issued two arrest warrants for him in the space of a few months.

Rafat Alameddine is living it up in Lebanon, half a world away from NSW — where police have now issued two warrants for his arrest in the space of a few months.

A new photo uncovered by The Sunday Telegraph shows Alameddine, the alleged head of the crime network with his surname, taking a selfie as he swims in a sun-bathed pool alongside his cousin Shaylin Zreika and another man.

Alameddine flew out of Sydney as a free man in early 2023 and has been living abroad ever since in Lebanon, where he is a dual citizen.

He has been joined in the years since by several associates, including John Ray Bayssari.

NSW Police last week issued arrest warrants for Alameddine and Bayssari for their alleged role in plotting to kill Ibrahem Hamze – with the pair allegedly being central to the Lucky Last group chat.

Alleged crime kingpin Rafat Alameddine (left) has been living abroad since 2022 and was recently pictured in Lebanon with his cousin Shaylin Zreika (right)

The arrest warrants issued last week come just four months after police issued warrants for the same pair over their alleged involvement in orchestrating the double murder of teenage gangster Salim Hamze and his innocent father Toufik.

Salim and Toufik were shot dead in broad daylight in Guildford on October 20, 2021.

That double murder was allegedly orchestrated through a group chat titled “It’s time” – an apparent reference to the need to kill Salim Hamze before he continued to attempt to kill members of the Alameddine crew.

Police allege that the very day after he and his father were killed, the “It’s Time” group chat was renamed “Lucky Last” as they moved on to targeting the final remaining member of the rival Hamze crime clan, Ibrahem Hamze.

The Alameddines had allegedly tried to kill Hamze on several previous occasions, including outside a Hurstville boxing event he attended in January 2021, where innocent man Mostafa Naaman was fatally shot instead, in a case of mistaken identity.

Then, they allegedly tried and failed again at North Sydney in August 2021.

And so in October 2021, police allege they launched what they hoped would be the “lucky last” attempt to assassinate Hamze.

Police allege the motive for all these attempts was simple — Hamze was bad for business.

The rival gangster had allegedly been targeting the Alameddine’s drug-running crew, known as R4W (Ready for War) or the ’61 boys, on numerous occasions, and court documents state that “conflict” was “impacting on the overall business of the Alameddine OCN”.

It is alleged that as part of their efforts to kill Hamze, the Alameddines recruited a former close associate of the Hamzys, Zaid Abdelhafez.

Abdelhafez had been the best friend of Salim Hamze, only to turn on him when offered $275,000 to shoot him dead.

Police allege that Abdelhafez sent messages about how he would try to clean the gunshot residue off his clothes with “vinegar” after the double-murder and that forensic officers found his DNA in a Lexus SUV used as a getaway car.

Police allege Abdelhafez was one of two men in the silver Lexus that morning, but it is unclear if he was the shooter or getaway driver.

Abdelhafez flew overseas in 2022 on a return ticket, but has never come back to Sydney, and despite warrants out for his arrest over the murders of Salim and Toufik Hamze, has never been charged.