Kazem ‘Kaz’ Hamad: The illicit tobacco king bringing violence to Perth streets

This is the untouchable crime tsar ushering a new wave of violence on to Perth streets. Kazem “Kaz” Hamad is one of Australia’s most wanted criminals, but his primary trade is no longer the heroin he used to peddle. Nor is it cocaine, guns or prostitution. The 41-year-old is Australia’s illicit tobacco king, supplying millions of the illegally imported cigarettes which are sold brazenly across the country. An Iraqi citizen, Hamad was deported from Australia in mid-2023. He was sent back to Iraq, which he fled when he was 14. He ended up in Dubai courtesy of a hook-up with a senior bikie he served time with, after he was convicted of heroin trafficking. At about $25, Hamad’s smokes are half the price of mainstream Winfield and Peter Jackson smokes but with each packet costing him as little as $1, the margin is still enormous. When there’s that much dirty money on the table, violence always follows. Last weekend, the inevitable became reality, with three drive-by shootings and multiple firebombings in Perth’s eastern suburbs. In a frenetic few hours of violence starting early Sunday morning, two separate volleys of shots were fired through the metal roller door of tobacconist The Smoke Station in Cannington. Two people fled in a black Holden Barina, which was later found scorched. A security guard escaped injury after the car he was sitting in was shot. Soon after that, bullets pierced a window at The Firkin pub in Ballajura and a vehicle in the carpark was peppered. The pub’s owner believes nearby tobacconist and perfume shop Candy Station — which has been attacked twice this year — was the target. A Molotov cocktail was thrown at the same store just after 4am on Monday. The attacks were rude proof that the east coast tobacco war had arrived in WA. RISK VERSUS REWARD Hamad worked out years ago that illegal smokes were as profitable as hard drugs with a fraction of the risk. The crime he commits is evasion of excise duty — a financial misdemeanour. Get sprung with 10kg of meth and you can expect a 20-year stretch; import the same amount of tobacco and you will be out of jail by Christmas. The judicial inequity came into sharp focus last year when Perth man Qusay Yasir was found with 580kg of illegal tobacco. The 450,000 “Mack” and “Rollo” branded cigarettes had a street value of close to half a million dollars. He bought them for $22,000 and faced a maximum jail term of five years. Yasir ended up walking after arguing he was just a delivery driver. He was unlucky to get caught in the first place because until quite recently his trade hadn’t been a priority. For years, smuggling tobacco was considered a victimless crime. People had little sympathy for Philip Morris and British American Tobacco, the companies whose profits were impacted. And who pities the Australian Taxation Office, which was missing billions in import duties? That look-the-other-way style of law enforcement allowed Hamad to corner the market in Sydney and Melbourne. He now has his sights set on Perth and events of the past few months suggest he is importing violence from across the Nullarbor as effortlessly as he imports cigarettes from South-East Asia. WA Police Assistant Commissioner Tony Longhorn declined to name Hamad as the primary target of Taskforce Balleroy, the unit within the serious organised crime division that is charged with smothering the illicit trade. But Mr Longhorn was clear that the groups behind Melbourne and Sydney’s tobacco wars are now in WA. “There are connections,” he said. “In WA we have been fortunate that we haven’t had much standover activity. Historically, a bit with tattoo shops and outlaw motorcycle groups, but it hasn’t been prolific. “We are now starting to see standovers, extortions, arson and, now, drive-by shootings. “Extortion and standover require certain skills and capabilities. OMCG could be involved because they do hire themselves out. “I can’t sit here and deny they’re present and making themselves known.” The street thugs behind last weekend’s shootings and firebombings are not considered heavy hitters. “They are pretty low-level and vulnerable people who can’t say no to even small amounts of cash,” Mr Longhorn said. But the illegal cigarette trade is no longer victimless. In January, 27-year-old Katie Tangey was killed when arsonists firebombed the wrong house in Melbourne. Victorian Police believe Hamad ordered the attack. Last month a man was shot dead in Melbourne’s far north. Detectives believe he was in a street crew answering to Hamad and one of his cousins. THE NEW AL CAPONE Deakin University criminologist James Martin sees Hamad as a modern-day Al Capone, supplying a product that the public desires despite Government restrictions. Instead of speak-easies, Hamad’s syndicate oversees a network of non-descript suburban stores that are shopfronts for under-the-counter sales. “I think the Government really is repeating a lot of the same mistakes that US government did a century ago with alcohol prohibition,” Dr Martin said. “They are taking on an incredibly popular recreational drug, and I think they’ve been driven really into it by a pretty overzealous public health and tobacco control sector, with their primary focus having been very narrowly constrained.” Like in 1920s America, where a citizen could always get a drink if they knew which door to knock on, West Australian smokers can buy a cheap packet of smokes if they know which store to walk into. The first major crackdown by WA Police, codenamed Operation Cosgrove, identified 26 retail outlets selling illegal cigarettes. “In March and April, we charged nine offenders with 10 incidents,” Mr Longhorn said. “We had a good strike rate and we shut it down but now we’re seeing a re-emergence.” Mr Longhorn is reluctant to assign blame for the current situation, but many local police say Australian Border Force has dropped the ball. “That 10kg of meth that will land you inside for years can be hidden in one small suitcase,” one WA police officer told The West. “The same weight of tobacco takes up a cubic metre. This is a difficult product to hide because a carton of cigarettes in bulky but they are still getting it through the borders very easily.” Australian Border Force commander Ken McKern said the smokes were coming via sea cargo. “However, the organised criminal groups operating in Australia are very agile and rapidly adjust their supply methodologies in response to enforcement activities, causing an ebb and flow effect of activity through national ports, harbours and airports,” he said. POLITICAL FAILURE Law enforcement veterans quietly blame politicians in Canberra, whose decision to increase tobacco excise made legal cigarettes so expensive that the black market became viable. Mr Longhorn wants tougher penalties to re-balance the risk-reward equation that is always considered by organised crime outfits before they enter a new market. Legislating would be a relatively simple process but not a complete fix — any crackdown will be subverted by the ubiquitous nature of the product being targeted. You will find illicit smokes in any beer garden, in any pub, anywhere in the world. The cigarettes sold illegally are not manufactured in clandestine laboratories; they’re made in legitimate factories and the product becomes illegal only when excise isn’t paid at the border. It is against the law to sell them without a tobacco licence, but that regime is enforced by the Department of Health, which has no experience tackling organised crime. Most importantly, buying illegal smokes is itself not technically illegal. “It’s not like someone walking around with meth,” Mr Longhorn said. The Australian Federal Police wants to extradite Hamad but even if the fugitive is served with papers, the chance of him ending up in handcuffs Down Under is remote. His network of contacts in the Middle East is so vast he can vanish easily, popping up in another jurisdiction and forcing the AFP to start the laborious extradition process all over again. “WA Police are utilising all the capability and technology at our disposal and we are exploiting our geographical isolation from the east coast,” Mr Longhorn said. Officers are about to visit some of the major players, and they won’t bother knocking when they arrive. “Anyone identified as being involved in these activities should make friends with someone from Doors Plus,” Mr Longhorn said.