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The tobacco war has reignited following a string of firebombings, shootings and a bashing that have taken place in the wake of a power vacuum left by the arrest of reigning kingpin Kazem “Kaz” Hamad.
There have been more than a dozen arson attacks and two shootings related to the illicit tobacco markets in Victoria, NSW, Queensland and Western Australia since Hamad was arrested in Iraq in mid-January.
Law enforcement and underworld sources said several incidents of violence in Victoria and NSW appeared to be linked to Middle Eastern organised crime groups that were attempting to challenge the hegemony of the cartel run by Hamad, known as “The Commission”.
Hamad is being held in a “secret” detention facility in Iraq. He had been operating his transnational crime empire from a base in Baghdad since his deportation from Australia in July 2023.
The underworld has been in a fever of speculation about Hamad’s fate, which includes everything from allegations he was tortured to gain access to his fortune to claims he has been killed to speculation he is shortly due to be released.
It’s created an information black hole that has led several new players and defeated rivals to consider seizing a share of the multibillion-dollar black market, sources say.
There have also been fires targeting tobacco shops that have attempted to stop paying the “Kaz tax” – the extortion payments levied on all operators – following Hamad’s arrest by Iraqi authorities.
“There are people who think things have changed and they don’t need to pay any more. They’re getting sent a message,” an underworld source said.
Not all the fires are connected to Hamad’s arrest, but they represent a significant uptick in violence linked to the illegal tobacco market, which had dropped off sharply in 2025.
Hamad became the dominant player in Australia’s illicit tobacco market following a two-year nationwide campaign of firebombings, shootings and several murders that has come to be known as the “tobacco war”.
In early 2025, Hamad forged the creation of a cartel to control the distribution and sale of smuggled cigarettes that came to be known as The Commission, according to police intelligence.
The most powerful group inside The Commission was Hamad’s own gang, known as Kaz’s Boys, The Iraqis, and now most commonly, the 313s.
On Wednesday, Victoria Police’s Gang Crime Squad announced that renewed violence was expected in the illicit tobacco market following a “number of significant arrests recently made in Victoria, interstate and offshore”.
The comments came after an arson attack on a Glenroy tobacco shop and the arrest of a 30-year-old man following a shooting and the recovery of five firearms, including an AK-47 assault rifle.
“What we’re seeing now is an escalation of violent offending by various organised crime syndicates vying for control of the illicit tobacco market,” Detective Inspector Graham Banks said.
“Since this series of fires started back in March 2023, we have been extremely forthright about the risks they present to the community and the potential for these arson attacks to result in the death or serious injury of innocent people.”
The Australian Federal Police has previously said Hamad’s syndicate has a near nationwide presence in five states and one territory, although they were not named.
“Due to Hamad’s arrest, a lack of leadership, infighting, and dysfunction within the syndicate is creating new opportunities for investigators,” AFP commissioner Krissy Barrett said after Hamad’s arrest.
The AFP, which runs a special taskforce into Hamad known as Operation Carmen, declined to comment on the renewed violence.
Most of the incidents linked to rising tensions in the illicit tobacco market have taken place in Victoria in the past three weeks, including two shootings in the north-western suburbs.
The grave of gangland figure Sam “The Punisher” Abdulrahim was also attacked and destroyed just days before the anniversary of his murder in late January, in what has been interpreted as a message that the 313s were still in charge despite Hamad’s arrest the week before.
Hamad is suspected of ordering Abdulrahim’s murder, capping a more than decade-long feud between the two.
A source has also described an incident where a member of Hamad’s crew was hospitalised after a vicious beating with baseball bats.
Hamad’s crew is suspected to be responsible for most of the violence as they seek to send messages that they continue to run the streets despite their leader’s incarceration, sources say.
In late January, a two-man team of suspected Hamad associates were intercepted by police in a stolen car wearing balaclavas and armed with a handgun, taser, cable ties and jerry cans. Their target is unknown.
Victoria Police’s Lunar Taskforce, which was formed in October 2023 to investigate the explosion in violence linked to Hamad’s rise, was absorbed into the state’s Gang Crime Squad in late October 2025.
At that stage, tobacco-related arson attacks had virtually ended in the state.
Lunar had been instrumental in taking down several crews inside the 313s and arresting a number of people connected to Hamad in Victoria and West Australia, including the kingpin’s younger brother, Maytham Hamad. Maytham has been charged with knowingly dealing with proceeds of crime to the value of more than $1 million, as well as possessing prohibited tobacco products. Those charges remain before the courts. He has not been charged in connection with any other of Kazem’s alleged criminal activity.
Behind the scenes, the AFP had also begun negotiating with judicial authorities in Iraq about Hamad’s potential capture after declaring him a threat to national security.
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