A frantic hunt is on for a traitor in Sam “The Punisher” Abdulrahim’s inner circle who is suspected of pinpointing his location for the hit team that killed him on Tuesday.
Underworld sources say there was only a small window of opportunity to target Abdulrahim, who had become cautious about disclosing his whereabouts after being on the run following a failed hit last May.
A hit team lay in wait for Sam Abdulrahim on Tuesday.Credit: Jason South
Abdulrahim, who had been overseas and regularly changed accommodation when back in Melbourne, had been at the Quest serviced apartments in Preston for only a day when he was gunned down in the car park in a meticulously planned ambush.
The execution was apparently staged at short notice.
Abdulrahim had returned to Australia only a week ago, and changed accommodation at least once before checking into the serviced apartments where he was killed. He had been planning to fly out of Australia on Thursday, sources said.
Abdulrahim and his associates had been targeted in a blitz of arson attacks, shootings and other violent crimes over the past two years. The 32-year-old also had a $1 million murder contract on his head.
As a result, there were only a few people in the former boxer’s inner circle who knew his plans and whereabouts, a source said.
The suspected four-person hit team was lying in wait in the underground car park for Abdulrahim about 10.30am on Tuesday as he walked to a car with his girlfriend.
He was shot several times, including twice in the head.
Access to the area is restricted to guests, who need to drive down a short section of ramp and swipe a card or fob to operate the electric roller door.
It is unclear how Abdulrahim’s killers gained entry. The garage is covered by CCTV.
After the shooting, the assailants fled in a stolen Porsche, which was set on fire in Reservoir before they changed to a second getaway vehicle that had been left parked in position.
On Wednesday, police said they believed they had found a burnt-out grey Ford Ranger used as the second getaway vehicle.
“We know that Ford Ranger has made its way to Western Avenue in Westmeadows, where that was set alight,” Detective Inspector Dean Thomas, the head of the homicide squad, told Nova FM.
The burnt-out car believed to have been used as a second getaway vehicle.Credit: Penny Stephens
“Now we’re working on the belief that that is involved, given the timing and location.”
Thomas said the Ford Ranger had a canopy with a distinctive sticker of bullhorns on its rear window. Anyone who saw it in the 24 hours leading up to Abdulrahim’s death is urged to contact police.
“This was very targeted at this particular individual,” Thomas said.
He described the shooting as brazen, but assured Victorians there was little threat to the broader community.
“It wasn’t a random sort of shooting. This was very targeted at this particular individual,” he said.
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan, speaking on the same radio station later on Wednesday, said it was “a totally natural reaction” for some people to fear accidentally getting caught up in such a public killing, but she emphasised the police advice that it was a targeted attack.
“It’s horrifying scenes. It must have been very distressing for the local community,” she said.
“[But] take the VicPol advice: they’re saying it’s targeted. They’re saying there’s no broader risk to the community. And we know that VicPol [have] got eyes on these groups. And they are throwing a lot of resources at this work.”
Abdulrahim was an underworld figure-turned-boxer who lived under the shadow of death threats for years, recovering after being shot eight times in 2022 and avoiding a 17-bullet hail of gunfire in 2024.
A video, shared on social media on Tuesday and verified by this masthead, shows Abdulrahim taunting his underworld nemesis Kazem “Kaz” Hamad on a video call after surviving the 2022 shooting at his cousin’s funeral in Fawkner.
“Hey, I’m still alive. Eight shots later and I’m still alive,” Abdulrahim tells Hamad, an underworld kingpin who has waged a bloody war for control of Victoria’s illicit tobacco trade after he was deported to the Middle East in mid-2023.
Hamad replies: “You’re lucky.”
During the call, Abdulrahim retorts: “I can protect myself. None of your boys are anywhere to be seen down here.”
It is unclear when the conversation occurred.
There have been at least 18 attacks against Abdulrahim, or directed at him by firebombing or shooting his friends and associates, since 2017.
He had amassed a list of enemies after Kadir “KD” Ors was shot dead in Campbellfield in 2016 by rival drug trafficker George Marrogi, with many believing Abdulrahim had helped lure Ors to the scene.
Abdulrahim survived being shot four times in the chest while leaving his cousin’s funeral in Fawkner in 2022. He was in an induced coma, had to learn to walk again and lived with the remains of a bullet lodged in his kidney.
In May last year, he narrowly escaped another ambush when shooters fired at him 17 times in Lalor after they had lured him out by torching a car at his parents’ house.
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