Former Mongols bikie Suleiman “Sam” Abdulrahim was warned by police there was another contract on his life and advised him against fighting at an upcoming boxing match before the fire on Thursday that extensively damaged the Thornbury venue before the bout.
The Furlan Club was firebombed about 1.50am, just hours after the boxer known as “The Punisher” posted on Instagram about his preparations for Saturday’s event. Arsonists attacked a second venue, the Emerald Reception Centre in Thomastown, four hours later.
Former Mongols bikie and professional boxer Suleiman “Sam” Abdulrahim.Credit: Instagram
“We’ve treated these incidents as linked and that is purely due to persons who’ve engaged with those businesses to undertake events at those places,” Lunar taskforce Detective Inspector Graham Banks said.
Police believe the arsonists fled the scene in two different stolen cars which were found engulfed by flames in Reservoir and Bundoora.
The attacks come after Abdulrahim was shot eight times while driving in a funeral procession outside the Fawkner cemetery in June 2022. The motive for the shooting has never been revealed and the gunmen responsible allegedly fled overseas before they could be arrested.
Four underworld sources, who cannot be identified publicly, said police recently told Abdulrahim that he had been targeted for violent retribution by an unknown person, and that he should not participate in the match, keep a low profile and limit his appearances in public.
The sources say that a fresh murder contract has been taken out against Abdulrahim, after four businesses connected to him were firebombed over the past year, including a Moonee Ponds tobacco and vape store that was torched three times.
Abdulrahim has been engaged in a media blitz about his return to boxing and attempts to snatch the Australasian title.
In the aftermath of the fire and recent warnings from police that he was the subject of a murder plot, Abdulrahim told The Age the boxing event staged by Punisher Promotions would still go ahead.
“It should be right, mate, but I’ve got to go,” Abdulrahim said on Thursday morning.
But Darebin Council has since ordered the shutdown of the venue citing safety concerns from fire damage.
The arson squad is investigating the blaze at Thornbury’s Furlan Club.Credit: Paul Rovere
A council spokesperson said: “Following a fire incident at the Furlan Club in Thornbury this morning, council officers inspected the site and the municipal building surveyor has determined that an emergency order be issued to secure the building from public access and prohibit occupation until such time that the building can be made safe.”
This is at least the fifth known threat or attempt on the life of Abdulrahim, 31, in the past four years, which also includes being bashed in the head with a rock in prison in 2019 and a foiled plot to kill him at a boxing event in May 2022, a month before he was shot in Fawkner.
Abdulrahim was regularly posting videos on social media about the upcoming fight despite the latest warning, including a broadcast on his training regime.
On Tuesday, he was asked in an interview posted to Instagram what the audience could expect at Saturday’s fight. “Fireworks,” he responded.
Still from a social media video showing offenders fleeing from the scene of the shooting of Suleiman Abdulrahim at Fawkner cemetery on June 25, 2022; Abdulrahim at the gym.
An underworld source said: “Sam ‘The Punisher’ has enemies everywhere, he’s pissed off so many people over the years by his habit of jumping from side to side to side.”
Among Abdulrahim’s most prominent enemies is rising Melbourne underworld kingpin Kazem “Kaz” Hamad, who has been allegedly waging a violent war against rivals in the illicit tobacco industry and settling old scores against enemies after being released from prison in mid-2023 and deported to his native Iraq.
Abdulrahim is a former member of the Mongols outlaw motorcycle gang. He was formerly an associate of Hamad before apparently aligning with a rival crew run by convicted murderer and drug trafficker George Marrogi.
In Marrogi’s murder trial and later appeal, it was alleged that Abdulrahim may have been involved in luring Hamad associate Kadir Ors to a Campbellfield car park where he was gunned down by Marrogi in September 2016.
“We consider that the evidence established that [Marrogi] was connected to Abdulrahim, and that Abdulrahim had the capacity to alert the applicant to Ors’ whereabouts on the day he was shot,” the Court of Appeal said in 2023.
Ors was a close friend of Hamad, and allegations of Abdulrahim’s involvement in luring Ors to his death caused a major falling out between the two, police and underworld sources say.
Abdulrahim has also been close to the Haddara family, who are fierce enemies of Hamad.
The recent police attempts to warn Abdulrahim he was the subject of a murder plot were not the first time that law enforcement authorities had expressed concerns about an event involving him and the company Punisher Promotions.
In July 2021 correspondence from a senior Victoria Police officer revealed the force had “received information and hold concerns” about an event held by Punisher Promotions in Kensington.
“The concerns held relate to the potential for acts of violence of attendees or affiliates of some at this event due to linked incidents involving shootings, stabbings, brawls and serious assaults,” acting Superintendent Troy Papworth wrote on June 15.
At the time, a Victoria Police spokeswoman confirmed the force regularly conducted “risk assessments prior to events to ensure the safety and security of the community”.
The Furlan Club was one of only a few clubs willing to host boxing events staged by Punisher Promotions.
Over the past two years, several function centres, including Malvern and St Kilda town halls and the Melbourne Pavilion had refused to host events involving the promotion business linked to Abdulrahim.
All four venues have been contacted for comment, while a spokesman for Punisher Promotions said the fire on Thursday morning had “nothing to do with us”, before hanging up.
The company has previously denied its involvement with Abdulrahim, despite him fighting under the name “The Punisher” and being a director of a company called Power Promotions Pty Ltd, which controls Punisher Promotions.
Abdulrahim stepped down as director of Power Promotions in March 2021, but remains involved in the business, according to police and underworld sources.
In 2018, Abdulrahim was sentenced to a maximum of three years and three months in prison after causing the death of an elderly woman after losing control of a Ferrari 360 Spider while almost 50 kilometres over the speed limit in Reservoir.
He was released on parole in March 2019. However, his parole was revoked within months because of several attempts on his life.
Lawyers for the Adult Parole Board told the Supreme Court that Abdulrahim had been the intended target of two shootings and another firearm incident. It was claimed at the time that he was a risk to the public by being out of jail.
John Silvester lifts the lid on Australia’s criminal underworld. Subscribers can sign up to receive his Naked City newsletter every Thursday.