Lunar taskforce police charge eight people allegedly involved in tobacco shop extortion
Lunar taskforce police have conducted raids on Kazem Hamad’s illicit tobacco syndicate, seizing weapons and arresting several people allegedly involved in tobacco shop extortions.
Victoria
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Twelve people, including a Mongols bikie, have been arrested and high-powered guns seized in a wave of raids against the illicit tobacco syndicate of crime boss Kazem Hamad.
Detectives from the anti-organised crime Lunar taskforce also allegedly confiscated handwritten extortion notes in an operation which also yielded explosives, three vehicles, knives, tobacco and vapes.
Lunar, set up in 2023 to combat smoke black market players, had been investigating tobacco shop extortions linked to a Middle-eastern organised crime syndicate.
The 14 pre-dawn warrants were executed at homes in Broadmeadows, Donnybrook, Wollert, Epping, Essendon, Lalor, Taylors Hill, Airport west, Thornhill Park, Meadows Heights and storage facilities in Roxburgh Park and Coolaroo.
Eight of the 12 people arrested were charged with extortion and will face Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.
One of them is a 26-year-old Donnybrook man who police will allege is a patched member of the Mongols bikie gang.
Others were
An 18-year-old man from Wollert, a 21-year-old man from Epping, two 19-year-olds from Taylors Hill, a 19-year-old man from Airport West, a 16-year-old boy from the northern suburbs and a 19-year-old Thornhill Park woman.
An 18-year-old Essendon man and a 19-year-old Meadows Heights man will face Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday on extortion charges.
A 41-year-old Broadmeadows man was arrested on outstanding warrants and remanded to appear at court on a later date and a Brookfield man, 22, was bailed to appear in Sunshine Magistrates Court on June 23 on drugs and weapons charges.
A Victoria Police statement said GPS trackers, a “significant amount of cash”, 10kg of loose-leaf tobacco and 6000 vapes were seized.
The statement said it would be alleged that those involved in the extortions went to tobacco shops and handed over an international WhatsApp number which they were ordered to ring.
“If the owner calls, a member of the syndicate instructs owners to pay a sum of money monthly or threatens to burn the store down. Stores have previously been burnt down on multiple occasions,” the statement alleged.
Detective Insp. Graham Banks of Lunar said the demands were allegedly being made on behalf of an offshore organised crime figure.
“Victoria Police has been crystal clear that we will target all of those involved at absolutely every level of this criminality – be it a syndicate leader, a facilitator or the foot soldiers carrying out the arson attacks and extortions,” Insp. Banks said.
“There is a total lack of care and respect for life and the community, and we will relentlessly keep working our way up until we get all the way to the top of these organised crime groups.”
The alleged tobacco extortionists used GPS trackers to monitor their victims and track illegal shipments.
Mr Banks described Monday’s batch of arrests as a “very significant” breakthrough that would have major impacts on Hamad’s syndicate.
“This group has been operating for some time and causing significant harm to the community,” Mr Banks said.
“These are significant arrests”
Mr Banks rejected claims that a truce had reportedly been reached between rival crime clans with interests in the black market smoke trade.
He said two alleged arsonists had been busted right before they allegedly attempted to torch a shop that had ignored Hamad’s demands.
Among the goods seized by police this week were also handwritten letters similar to those that foot soldiers had delivered to tobacconists that contained instructions and directives to obey those demands.
Mr Banks said many victims were ordered to contact the Hamad syndicate via a dedicated WhatsApp number.
He said it was “extremely concerning” that teenagers were among those tasked with issuing warnings and collecting payments for more senior syndicate members.
Originally published as Lunar taskforce police charge eight people allegedly involved in tobacco shop extortion
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