{"id":471643,"date":"2026-02-10T23:55:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T23:55:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/471643\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T23:55:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T23:55:09","slug":"images-of-alleged-tobacco-wars-kingpin-kazem-hamad-released-in-iraq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/471643\/","title":{"rendered":"Images of alleged tobacco wars kingpin Kazem Hamad released in Iraq"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australian Federal Police (AFP) say the arrest of alleged organised crime kingpin Kazem Hamad in Iraq last month has led to infighting in the syndicate he is accused of leading.<\/p>\n

Images of Hamad in custody in Iraq have been released for the first time.<\/p>\n

Hamad, also known as Kadhim Malik Hamad Rabah al-Hajami, was alleged to be one of the key players in Melbourne’s tobacco wars.<\/p>\n

Iraqi authorities detained him in January and he has been the subject of a months-long AFP investigation<\/a> known as Operation Carmen.<\/p>\n

AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett has described Hamad as her “number one target”.<\/p>\n

The photos have been made public with the permission of the National Centre for International Judicial Cooperation (NCIJC) in Iraq.<\/p>\n

\"Kazem<\/p>\n

Kazem Hamad is being held by Iraqi authorities in a secret location. (Supplied: Australian Federal Police)<\/p>\n

“I want every offender connected to Hamad or his syndicate to look long and hard at this photo,” Commissioner Barrett said in a statement.<\/p>\n

“And I want to be very clear \u2014 just because Hamad is in custody, the AFP’s job is not done.”<\/p>\n

The AFP confirmed Hamad remained in custody in a secret location in Iraq, and the AFP was supporting the independent Iraqi investigation.<\/p>\n

“The AFP again travelled to Iraq last week to provide further assistance. Key investigative information was also shared with the AFP,” Commissioner Barrett said.<\/p>\n

“While the Iraqi investigation continues, the AFP remains committed to Operation Carmen, our investigation into Hamad and his syndicate.”<\/p>\n

Key figure in tobacco wars<\/p>\n

Hamad was deported from Australia in 2023 and has been a key person of interest relating to firebombings at Victorian tobacco shops and businesses.<\/p>\n

In a past Victorian court case, police said they believed Hamad had orchestrated a series of firebombing attacks on his rivals or Melbourne shop owners who defied his alleged standover men.<\/p>\n

They said exorbitant extortion fees became known in Melbourne as the “Kaz tax”.<\/p>\n

\"Kazem<\/p>\n

Kazem Hamad is alleged to be a key figure in Melbourne’s tobacco wars. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Senior police earlier confirmed that he was being looked at as part of the investigation into the firebombing of the Adass Israel synagogue in December, 2024.<\/p>\n

The AFP suspects the syndicate linked to Hamad is operating in five Australian states and one territory.<\/p>\n

“Due to Hamad’s arrest, a lack of leadership, infighting, and dysfunction within the syndicate is creating new opportunities for investigators attached to Operation Carmen,” Commissioner Barrett said.<\/p>\n

“The AFP will use every partnership, capability, and legislative power to dismantle this dangerous syndicate and identify every single individual who is linked to this crime gang.<\/p>\n

“The AFP will work closely with state and territory law enforcement agencies, which have had significant success in arresting, disrupting and charging alleged syndicate members.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australian Federal Police (AFP) say the arrest of alleged organised crime kingpin Kazem Hamad in Iraq last month…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":471644,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[29623,64,63,217429,156934,44,196166],"class_list":["post-471643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-afp","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-kazem-hamad","tag-melbourne-crime","tag-news","tag-tobacco-wars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/471644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}