Melbourne’s north-west has become a vicious battleground in the latest instalment of the so-called “tobacco war”, with the suburb of Glenroy plagued by six arson attacks and shootings in the past two months.
The fresh round of violence between organised crime gangs follows the arrest of illicit tobacco kingpin Kazem “Kaz” Hamad in Iraq in January. Since then, almost 30 arson attacks and shootings nationwide have occurred, as the 42-year-old’s gang, the 313s, battles to retain control of the multibillion-dollar illicit tobacco market.
In the early hours of Sunday morning, Glenroy Convenience on Belair Avenue was attacked for the second time this month, with a stolen car rammed into the business and then set alight.
Just weeks earlier, on March 3, two masked men stormed the same business carrying a shotgun, and poured petrol on the counters and floor before setting it alight. No one was injured.
Later that same night – in an incident that police believed is linked – shots were fired at a group of offenders outside a home in Glenroy allegedly linked to Fadi Haddara’s criminal gang. A later police operation turned up a cache of firearms, including an AK-47 assault rifle.
The owner of Glenroy Convenience previously installed bollards and metal doors. Though internally, there was little damage on Sunday morning, the shop’s electric glass door was broken, and metal doors warped by the impact of the car, with damage totalling up to $20,000.
The Belair Avenue shop was previously attacked three times in 2024.
Another cigarette retailer in the area, GVT Glenroy, was firebombed in early February and shot up three weeks later. It was the fourth known attack on that business since 2023.
It remains unclear from business records who currently owns and operates the shops.
During the first round of the tobacco war in 2023-24, Haddara’s gang was Hamad’s main rival for control of the illicit tobacco market, before Hamad forced their surrender.
After those incidents in early March, Gang Crime Squad Detective Inspector Graham Banks said Melbourne was “seeing an escalation of violent offending by various organised crime syndicates vying for control of the illicit tobacco market”.
Local area trader Gulay Bektas say she was initially shocked by the firebombings near her office, but it was now “unsurprising” to arrive at work and not be able to access her building due to fire damage.
“I don’t feel safe, but I still have to go to work … I will sometimes work from home when it gets bad,” she told The Age.
“I feel a bit of fear, but I’m not sure how we stop this. We shouldn’t have to put up with this, we’re not used to ongoing crime like this in our country.”
The outbreak of violence targeting tobacco retailers comes as the regulator, Tobacco Licensing Victoria, has failed to crackdown on illicit operators in the Glenroy area.
The TLV licensing register shows only three businesses are licensed to sell tobacco in the suburb – a Coles supermarket and two petrol stations.
A barbershop located nearby on Wheatsheaf Road was also firebombed two weeks ago.
Police and underworld sources, who cannot be publicly identified, have said the 313s were attacking retailers across the country who refused to continue paying the $5000 a month protection payment known as the “Kaz tax”.
Police intelligence has linked a number of other violent incidents to conflicts between the 313s, old rivals and new players looking to push into the illegal market in Hamad’s absence.
At a press conference on Sunday, Premier Jacinta Allan refused to answer questions about the Glenroy incident, but said the government remained committed to cracking down on the illicit tobacco trade in Victoria.
“In addition to the arrests and seizures that Victoria Police have been undertaking since February, Tobacco Licensing Victoria has seized $5 million worth of illegal tobacco, and they will continue to do that work,” she said.
“And we will also be strengthening the law to give the agency the powers to shut down illegal tobacco businesses. This is work that needs to continue.”
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
