Organised hit team of four lay in wait to execute Sam ‘The Punisher’ Abdulrahim

Sam “The Punisher” Abdulrahim, the Melbourne underworld’s most hunted man, was executed by an organised hit team of up to four assailants after his most recent hiding place was apparently leaked.

Abdulrahim was murdered in the covered parking facility of the Quest hotel in High Street, Preston, about 10am on Tuesday after checking into the serviced apartment complex only a day or two before.

Underworld sources say the gangland figure-turned-champion boxer was walking through the car park where the hit team was lying in wait. He was shot multiple times, including twice in the head.

Abdulrahim went “underground” in May 2024 to escape a $1 million murder contract on his head and has survived several previous attempts on his life.

The 32-year-old had been at a property in Rye before returning to the city and checking into the serviced apartment complex. He has been extremely secretive about his movements after being subjected to 18 different arson or shooting attacks targeted directly at him or his friends and family since 2017.

The head of the homicide squad, Detective Inspector Dean Thomas, said Abdulrahim’s girlfriend had been with him when he was slain.

“She did her best to render first aid … but unfortunately, he has passed away,” Thomas said at the scene.

He said the woman escaped unharmed but was traumatised and was assisting police with their investigation.

“She’s extremely upset. She’s doing the best to speak to us and provide us with whatever information she can,” Thomas said.

“She’s been through a very traumatic situation, seeing her boyfriend shot and killed … [it’s a] very, very traumatic situation, she’s very, very upset.”

With the manhunt for the killers now under way, Abdulrahim’s grieving sister was quick to point the finger, naming whom she suspected was behind the attack in a social media post.

“Whoever shot my brother to death, I’m after u,” she wrote. “I know it’s u dog.

“Never ends here.”

Police believe Abdulrahim’s killers fled in a white car. Thomas said officers were combing through CCTV and examining a burnt-out white Porsche SUV they believe was used in the targeted attack, urging witnesses and associates of Abdulrahim to come forward with information.

Video obtained by this masthead shows the Porsche, which was found in nearby Reservoir, engulfed in flames and spewing plumes of black smoke.

There were several shots fired in the attack and investigators and ballistic experts were still determining what had unfolded, Thomas said.

A staff member from the hotel called triple zero.

Friends had warned Abdulrahim in the lead-up to his death to stay away from Melbourne, but he had returned to Australia after a stint overseas.

It is unclear how long he had been staying at the hotel. Police were investigating whether he could have checked in as recently as a day ago.

They confirmed emergency services were called following reports a man had been shot in a car park in High Street shortly after 10.30am. The man died at the scene.

High Street near the Quest hotel remained closed in both directions between Youngman and Wood streets as police collected evidence.

Thomas said police were aware that there had been several threats made to Abdulrahim’s life, and they had continued to warn him of the danger he was in.

“On each occasion, safety warnings have been provided to him by Victoria Police,” Thomas said.

He said investigators had no information to suggest there would be any retaliatory attacks at this stage but a strong police presence would remain at the scene.

“I ask anybody that’s associated with our deceased person that they co-operate with police, and they provide whatever information they can to us, and they work with us so that we can identify those responsible.”

Thomas said Abdulrahim’s killers should hand themselves in before they were caught.

“We will work out who it is and we will hold those responsible. Whether that’s tomorrow or in the coming days, it will happen.”

He urged anyone who saw anything, including the white Porsche SUV leaving the area of the shooting, to contact Crime Stoppers.

On Tuesday afternoon, about 20 distraught family members and associates of Abdulrahim could be seen huddling together on the corner of High and Youngman streets.

One woman was sitting on the ground, her hands covering her face as she was comforted by others.

Underworld figure Sam “The Punisher” Abdulrahim in police custody in 2015.Credit: The Age

A man was overcome with emotion as he slumped against a tree, while other grieving associates sat on chairs outside the Quest hotel.

“[Abdulrahim’s] family and friends are very, very distraught,” Thomas said. “Understandably so. They’ve lost a loved one, they’ve lost a son, a friend, and of course, we’ll be doing everything we can to investigate this and identify those responsible.”

Members of the public also gathered behind the police tape on the intersection of Wood and High streets, trying to get a glimpse of the crime scene.

Less than two kilometres away, more than a dozen detectives, police and forensic officers surrounded a torched car at the end of Alexandra Street, off Northernhay Street, in Reservoir on Tuesday afternoon.

The white Porsche SUV had been rammed through the fence of the Melbourne Water reservoirs that gave the suburb its name.

Nearby resident Dan, whose surname was withheld due to safety concerns, said he had been working from home when he heard a loud bang just before 11am.

“It sounded like someone dropped a sofa,” he said.

Dan said he then heard another bang 30 seconds later, then saw a “massive plume of smoke” outside.

Police are investigating whether a burnt-out car in Alexander Street, Reservoir, is connected to the killing.Credit: Justin McManus

The car was torched at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac, normally used as a driveway by residents who live in a nearby block of units.

Another neighbour, Ansa, was sleeping when she awoke to a fire roaring nearby as the car erupted into flames. “I was so scared,” she said.

Friends and associates of Abdulrahim began posting on social media as news of his death spread.

“It is with great sadness that our dear brother Sam Abdulrahim has tragically passed away and returned to his Lord,” wrote one in a tribute on Facebook.

“May Allah have mercy on his soul, forgive his sins and give his family patience and strength.”

Another wrote: “This is beyond belief and absolutely heartbreaking.”

Abdulrahim, who lived under death threats for years, went into hiding in May 2024 after narrowly escaping an ambush outside his northern suburbs home, where gunmen shot at him 17 times.

His Lalor home, shot up in another drive-by and then later firebombed, was left abandoned and unlivable.

Abdulrahim’s Instagram account was littered with false trails, including a photo purportedly posted from Lebanon with the message “Feels good to be in motherland”, when he was actually seen partying at a Melbourne bar.

In September, he appeared briefly to be working as a bodyguard for Russian mixed martial arts star Khabib Nurmagomedov at an event in Kuala Lumpur, according to a social media post about the MMA star.

In June 2022, he was ambushed as he was leaving his cousin’s funeral at Fawkner cemetery and shot in the chest eight times.

The Tuesday shooting comes as police and underworld sources suspect a series of seemingly random or unexplained violent attacks in the past six months are linked to enemies of Abdulrahim who viciously targeted his family, friends and associates.

Our Breaking News Alert will notify you of significant breaking news when it happens. Get it here.