Tobacco kingpin Kazem Hamad to be targeted with ‘several new joint strategies’
A major reshuffle within Victoria Police’s crime structure is set to put tobacco kingpin Kazem Hamad under the microscope as police prepare a fresh assault on overseas criminals.
Victorian and federal police are preparing a fresh assault on overseas criminals, including offshore tobacco kingpin Kazem Hamad.
Further scrutiny is set to be placed on Hamad, who is operating his destructive crime syndicate from the Middle East, after it was announced that Victoria’s illicit tobacco task force would be wound back.
They will instead pour those resources into “several new joint strategies” with the primary intention of placing Hamad – who is the subject of an Interpol red notice – in handcuffs.
Hamad has caused an enormous amount of damage and is suspected of being behind countless arson attacks and extortions across the state over the past three years.
He remained a significant challenge for the Lunar task force – a group of detectives from Melbourne – as he continues to operate his syndicate from Iraq.
Lunar will next month be wound down to return to the gang crime squad with an intense focus on arresting Hamad and his associates.
Assistant Commissioner Martin O’Brien from crime command said the intelligence gathered since Lunar’s inception in 2023 would be used to home in on Hamad’s crew.
He said Victorian detectives would increasingly collaborate with members of the AFP and Border Force to take Hamad and other Middle Eastern organised crime gangs down.
“As the landscape has evolved, and the nature of offending in Victoria has started to change, we recognise the need for even greater collaboration with our law enforcement partners to target those involved in criminality here in Victoria but based overseas,” he said.
“There is an added complexity to targeting those syndicate leaders offshore, however it is crucial if we want to affect long-term change locally.
“Under Operation Lunar we will continue to target those offenders, while also expanding our focus on the international links in an effort to disrupt and dismantle these syndicates at every level.”
The announcement came a day after Hamad’s uncle, Majid Jabal, was arrested by Lunar officers at his Wollert home.
Victoria Police did not name the man arrested at Wollert but a statement described him as an “onshore lieutenant” for a foreign-based syndicate leader.
He was later released and police said he was expected to be charged on summons.
Mr Jabal is known to have spent time overseas of late and returned in recent months.
One image from his travels of recent years shows him relaxing beside an Iraqi flag in what appears to be some kind of official building.
In 2020, he was convicted over smuggling 3.2 tonnes of molasses into Australia from the United Arab Emirates.
The consignment was found in a shipping container by Australian Border Force officials.
A County Court plea hearing was told Mr Jabal was a former policeman born in Kuwait of Iraqi parents.
He had previously been warned by ABF over a 100kg molasses shipment that arrived in 2016.
Action against Hamad and others by Commonwealth authorities has escalated in recent times and is expected to be ratcheted up further in future.
AFP Chief Commissioner Krissy Barrett has made her interest in catching Hamad clear.
Ms Barrett has previously named him as coming under scrutiny in the 2023 Addas Israel synagogue fire at Ripponlea.
