One of the Australia’s most notorious bikies, Tarek Zahed, has been arrested after a month on the run from police across two states.
The Comanchero heavyweight was arrested at a house in Sydney’s western suburbs on Friday evening.
Dubbed the “Balenciaga bikie” given his penchant for designer clothing, Zahed has been the target of police investigators in NSW and Victoria since late September when his parole was revoked over an alleged string of violent nightclub brawls in Melbourne.
The NSW State Crime Command’s Raptor Squad arrested Zahed at a house on Yates Avenue, in Dundas Valley, seizing $12,800 in cash that was found in a car at the property.
Zahed’s prominence as an underworld figure was laid bare in 2022 when he survived an assassination attempt after he turned up at a gym at Auburn, only to be ambushed by gunmen spraying bullets. Zahed was left blind in one eye and his younger brother Omar was gunned down alongside him.
Tarek Zahed was arrested at a house in Dundas Valley on Friday.Credit: NSW Police
Months later, Zahed was charged over the 2014 murder of underworld figure Youssef Assoum in Bankstown, in Sydney’s south-west, but prosecutors later dropped that charge and struck a deal with Zahed to plead guilty to arranging for a bloodstained getaway car to be destroyed.
After serving two years and four months in jail, Zahed was released on parole in December.
The Comanchero’s former sergeant-at-arms had been dividing his time between Sydney and Melbourne since 2021, and returned to Melbourne more recently following his release from prison.
Senior Comanchero Tarek Zahed in 2021.Credit: Edwina Pickles
His life in Melbourne became the stuff of headlines in July after he was involved in a violent brawl outside one of Melbourne’s most problem-plagued nightclubs, Love Machine in Prahran.
Three men were taken to hospital with facial injuries following the fracas.
Video of that incident obtained by this masthead showed Zahed remonstrating with security staff.
Love Machine has been the target of repeated violence by members of the Comanchero outlaw motorcycle gang, prompting the resignation of multiple security guards.
The club has since been forced to close temporarily, after Victoria Police and the state’s liquor licensing commission cracked down on the club following a series of brawls, firearms incidents and alleged licensing breaches.
After police arrested Zahed on Friday night, he was taken to Gladesville Police Station and has since been transferred into the custody of Department of Corrective Services NSW.
A 38-year-old man who was also arrested at the Dundas Valley house was later released without charge.
with Ashleigh McMillan
Most Viewed in National
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
