Victoria Police says a “turning point” has been reached in the two-year-old tobacco war as authorities have made a series of arrests and developed informers inside the syndicate of kingpin Kaz Hamad.
The claim comes after the Lunar taskforce arrested 12 suspected members of Hamad’s syndicate last week and another seven suspected associates this week. All of them have been charged with offences relating to a string of extortions over tobacco shops and an allegedly unpaid debt dating back to last year.
“Pleasingly, we’re now starting to see members of the public, as well as members of the Hamad syndicate, start to co-operate with the police,” Detective Inspector Graham Banks said at a press conference on Thursday.
“While that co-operation is not yet at the level we would like to see, it is no doubt a significant turning point in this significant investigation into what is a very serious and organised crime group.”
Banks declined to comment on whether the collaborators were lower level or more senior members of the Hamad crew, which has been waging a campaign of intimidation and arson attacks in a turf war to control Australia’s multibillion-dollar illicit cigarette trade.
Hamad has become one of Melbourne’s most powerful underworld figures after being deported from Australia to Iraq in mid-2023, igniting the tobacco war that has been linked to at least three murders, numerous shootings and more than 130 firebombings.
From CCTV footage showing an attempted extortion of a tobacco shop in the City of Hume.Credit: Police Media
Hamad and his business associate and cousin Ahmed Al Hamza have been lavish in their rewards for loyal members of their crew, including first-class international trips, luxury cars and top-notch legal representation when they are arrested.
The syndicate has also been linked to a series of firebombings and threats against anyone who speaks out against the gang, which has led to the collapse of at least three prosecutions against gang members.
But Banks said the environment was now beginning to change.
“We’re getting co-operation from a number of people, including people aligned with Kaz Hamad,” he said. “The scale and number of arrests we’ve been making in recent times indicate that we are having that sort of assistance.”
Banks said there were a “number of things we can do for people … who want to get out of that lifestyle”.
At the press conference, police released CCTV footage showing an attempted extortion of a tobacco shop in the City of Hume that the force is seeking assistance with.
The footage shows a man attending the store on April 28, 2024, and asking the shop attendant if he “knows Kaz”. The suspect then hands over a slip of paper containing a phone number, instructing the person to call as soon as he leaves the store.
Just over two weeks later, after the shop owner failed to make the call, two men entered the shop and handed over a phone to the staff members, telling them to speak with the “boss”.
The voice on the phone, whose identity remains unclear, told the staff member the owner had two days to “call Kaz or you will have no shop any more”.
Banks said that as a result of the extortion attempt, the owner had sold the shop and moved out of his home.
“If there are shop owners out there who have been approached to pay sums of money or who have been threatened in any way, then we urge you to contact police,” Banks said.
Anyone who recognises the men or who has any information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential report online at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au.
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