‘One of Kaz’s boys’: Chilling moment smoke shop worker confronted in tobacco wars extortion

Footage shows the moment a man claiming to work for underworld figure Kazem Hamad threatens a convenience store worker, as a shocked customer watches on.

Enforcers in an extortion racket driven by a key overseas player in the tobacco wars are brazenly threatening smoke shop owners in front of customers.

In footage obtained by the Herald Sun, a man claiming to work for exiled kingpin Kazem “Kaz” Hamad can be heard delivering demands to the owner of a tobacconist in Melbourne’s north.

It can be revealed that his associates have been giving orders on the underworld figure’s behalf by simply instructing shop owners to call a phone number provided to them on a piece of paper.

On September 24, a man openly branded himself as “one of Kaz’s boys” inside a tobacconist before the menacing ordeal unfolded in front of a customer waiting to purchase some drinks.

“I’m going to give you a number. You’ll need to call this number today, alright?,” he can be heard saying to the shop’s owner.

A man claiming to work for exiled kingpin Kazem ‘Kaz’ Hamad can be heard on film delivering demands to the smoke shop worker.

“I’ll just write the number down for you here.

“Make sure you call them, ‘cause if you don’t …”

The enforcer, donning a white T-shirt and a black cross body bag, can be seen copying down what he claimed was a phone number that would connect the owner to Hamad’s network who would provide him with his orders.

“The boys are going to be on that phone,” he said.

“Call them and speak to them and they’ll explain everything to you.”

The owner can be heard saying he will call the number provided before the man walks out of the store, leaving the note on the counter where the customer then paid for their items.

Hamad has been living in the Middle East since he was deported last year following a prison sentence for high-level heroin trafficking.

The man tells the worker to call a number ‘cause if you don’t …’.

But the underworld figure has amassed a network of foot soldiers across Victoria who have helped him maintain his significant share of the state’s black market tobacco trade.

His portfolio not only includes importing and distributing illicit tobacco, but also extortion.

In several cases earlier this year, he demanded store owners front up $2000 per week, or else their shops would be torched like dozens of others across Victoria.

The Haddara clan controlled most of the black market trade for more than a decade until Hamad began muscling in on its lucrative profits.

The fiery conflict, until now mostly fuelled by clashes between the rival Hamad and Haddara crews, has seen arsonists torch smoke shops, entertainment venues and homes more than 100 times in the past year.

On Monday morning, two arsonists were captured on CCTV using a jerry can to set alight a cigarette and lotto shop on Bonwick St in Fawkner about 2.30am.

Adrian Iuele, whose family runs the damaged cake shop Pasticceria Padova next door, said he was “gutted” his business had been caught up in the firebombing.

“It’s shithouse, we’ve got nothing to do with it,” he said.