By Lachlan Abbott and Rebecca Peppiatt
Police have described the brother of ruthless Melbourne organised-crime kingpin Kazem “Kaz” Hamad as a puppeteer of firebombings across the country as part of a crime wave linked to the illegal tobacco wars.
Maytham Hamad.Credit: Nine News Perth
Maytham Hamad, 29, was arrested this week in a joint investigation by Western Australian and Victorian police and the Australian Border Force (ABF) into an alleged $10 million illegal tobacco business in WA with links to an organised crime syndicate in the Middle East.
Over the past year, Kaz Hamad has waged an at-times bloody war for control of the lucrative illicit tobacco trade in Victoria, where a dedicated taskforce was launched after dozens of firebombings and multiple shootings.
Detective Acting Superintendent Mark Hatt, from Victoria Police’s anti-gang division, alleged Maytham Hamad was “a high-level co-ordinator of violence and other associated illicit tobacco activities”.
“We believe [he] is a puppeteer in relation to the fires that have been occurring across multiple states and a high-level player in the illicit tobacco trade,” Hatt said at a press conference in Melbourne on Friday.
Police allege Maytham Hamad moved from Victoria to WA two years ago to establish an illicit tobacco network.
His brother remains offshore after he was deported from Australia last year. Victoria Police believe Kaz Hamad has been running a major Middle Eastern organised crime gang from Dubai and other sanctuaries overseas. They suspect he orchestrated a string of “tobacco war” firebombings, a murder and a plot to desecrate the body of the sister of a long-time enemy.
In a Victorian court hearing this year, police alleged Maytham Hamad was a “high-ranking member of the Hamad syndicate” who oversaw its onshore activities while his brother was in the Middle East.
In a joint media release on Friday, law enforcement agencies alleged that the Perth-based Hamad’s criminal activity had escalated recently, leading WA Police to execute 50 search warrants at homes, storage units and shops across the state from Sunday to Tuesday this week.
Thirteen people were arrested. Two women and seven men, including Maytham Hamad and others with links to organised crime in the Middle East, have been charged with dealing with the proceeds of crime.
As part of the joint operation, Victoria Police executed six search warrants at homes in Sunbury, Wollert, Collingwood, Werribee and Altona Meadows. Four men were arrested.
Millions of illicit cigarettes and cash, tonnes of loose illicit tobacco, tens of thousands of vapes, drugs, firearms and cars worth more than $500,000 were seized in dozens of raids across Australia this week.
WA Police Detective Acting Superintendent Jeff Beros said the illegal tobacco trade yielded attractive profit margins.
“This has caused an environment where organised crime groups are aggressively competing for market share, resulting in violent offences such as criminal damage, threats and extortion being undertaken in our community,” he said.
“We have seen this violence and harm being undertaken in other parts of Australia, and we are resolute in not letting these groups flourish in Western Australia.”
He said the arrests “send a clear message” to anyone thinking of undertaking similar activities that they will be caught and prosecuted.
All tobacco products have been provided to the ABF for further investigation and consideration of additional charges under federal taxation laws. Similarly, vape-related products have been provided to the WA Health Department for further investigation.
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