Maytham Hamad, brother of alleged crime kingpin Kazem Hamad, arrested in Perth

The brother of exiled crime boss Kazem Hamad has been arrested in Perth, in a major breakthrough for detectives investigating dozens of tobacco-related arsons.

Maytham Hamad, the brother of alleged crime kingpin Kazem Hamad, has been refused bail after being arrested in Perth.

Maytham Hamad – the brother of alleged crime kingpin Kazem Hamad – has been arrested in Perth.

29-year-old Maytham, who has been living in Western Australia for some time, was detained with several other men as part of an organised crime inquiry in that state.

Victoria Police crime command investigators are believed to have been involved in the operation.

They have been keenly interested in Maytham, who lives in the Perth suburb of Mount Pleasant, since the wave of tobacco war firebombings which started in Victoria last year.

That chaos was allegedly instigated by his brother Kazem Hamad, who is alleged to want control of Australia’s illicit tobacco market.

“Kaz” was deported from Australia in the middle of last year after doing a long jail term for heroin trafficking.

Kazem Hamad before he was deported.

In a major breakthrough for Lunar task force detectives who have been investigating dozens of tobacco-related arsons, Nine News Perth reported that Maytham was arrested at his Mount Pleasant home on Monday.

He reportedly fronted court on Tuesday over one charge of allegedly receiving, possessing or dealing with any money or property that is the proceeds of an offence between April and June this year.

It is understood that Maytham was refused bail and will plead not guilty.

He was charged alongside Omar Hussein, Moey Ofi and Anita Lee McLean, who were also refused bail.

The younger Hamad had emerged as his elder brother’s suspected second-in-charge in Australia, directing much of the chaos unfolding in Victoria’s fiery tobacco wars.

Police believed the 29-year-old was directing “onshore activities” on behalf of the Hamad syndicate after his brother left Australia, including co-ordinating extortions and directing firebombings.

Maytham has remained of key interest to police for several years.

He faced the Supreme Court in 2021 over a baseball bat attack on a Roxburgh Park drug dealer, who was shot dead by another person soon after.

A West Australian Police spokeswoman said she was unable to elaborate because the operation was ongoing.

Alleged Hamad lieutenant Majid Alibadi was arrested by Lunar task force detectives earlier this year.

The pair were allegedly in close communication with Kaz, using encrypted chats to keep one another in the loop about their operations.

It comes after the Herald Sun earlier this year revealed that several WA smoke shops believed to be connected to Melbourne underworld figures went up in flames.