Kickboxer Salim Aschna latest figure with ties to Melbourne’s underworld to emerge in Middle East
High-flying fighter and trainer Salim Aschna has become the latest figure with ties to Melbourne’s underworld to relocate to the Middle East, opening an up-market restaurant in the region.
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Kickboxer Salim Aschna has become the latest figure with ties to Melbourne’s underworld to relocate to the Middle East.
The high-flying fighter and trainer has emerged in Dubai amid his launch of a new, up-market restaurant in the heart of Abu Dhabi.
Huqqabaz is believed to have opened its doors earlier this month offering extravagant live shows, cocktails topped with flames and shisha.
Salim has been seen rubbing shoulders in Dubai with several close associates, Idress Kheyali and Khalil Popal.
The trio were snapped smiling next to one another in Dubai earlier this month.
Multiple underworld sources have told the Herald Sun that Aschna’s overseas ventures have ruffled feathers among some figures who also call the desert city home.
It is not being suggested that Aschna is engaging in criminal activity.
His international business venture comes after arsonists torched a Dandenong gym he ran and where he worked as a trainer in July last year.
Staff initially firmly denied any links between the blaze and criminal figures.
But Fighters Xpress was completely destroyed by the fire just days before the Herald Sun revealed Aschna was closely aligned with former Comanchero kingpin Tarek Zahed.
The pair smiled next to one another while on board a private jet, with Aschna donning a Fighters XPress tank top while the pair posed side-by-side.
Before his departure, Aschna was branded “Super Salim Aschna” in the ring and was at one point the Australian president of the World Sport Fight Martial Arts Council.
It is understood a string of fires that broke out last year were linked with ongoing tensions between warring Middle Eastern crime clans.
Arsonists later targeted Skamma Gym in Narre Warren, which has also been the location of a violent shootout in the past, after Fighters XPress staff began running classes there following the Dandenong fire.
Also targeted by arsonists were a Dandenong cabinet-making business, a Noble Park mechanic, Elite Motor Garage on Price St in Oakleigh and an address understood to be linked to Kheyali.
The Oakleigh car dealer was targeted a second time on October 2 when arsonists torched its Park Rd workshop, just days after Aschna’s Huqqabaz grand opening.
Owner and managing director Arj Lopez has previously condemned the firebombings on the business.
It is understood that another one of the partners of the business is now also living in Dubai and has been mixing in similar circles to Aschna.
Dubai is a favourite destination because of the availability of luxury living and its underworld networks.
Grudges are said to be checked in on arrival because authorities in the city will not accept visitors who step out of line.
A number of other Melbourne identities have resettled in the Middle East in recent years.
Northern suburbs crime figure Ahmed Al Hamza has been in Dubai for two years where the obstacle of distance has not stopped him expanding his power base back here.
Kazem Hamad was deported to Iraq last year but still managed to become the key protagonist in the fiery tobacco warfare which has plagued Melbourne for 18 months.
Comanchero Hasan Topal has lived in the region for five years after jetting out amid intense police interest in his activities.
But there are signs it may no longer be a law enforcement safe haven.
Hells Angels kingpin Angelo Pandeli was deported from Dubai and put on a plane back to Australia last month.
Another senior bikie is awaiting trial on high-level drug trafficking charges after being extradited from a Middle Eastern country two years ago.
Originally published as Kickboxer Salim Aschna latest figure with ties to Melbourne’s underworld to emerge in Middle East
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