source : the age
Police are investigating if the near-fatal shooting of crime figure Fadi Haddara is linked to his crime network’s alleged involvement in a multimillion-dollar tobacco and money laundering operation in Tasmania.
Haddara’s targeting by a hit team was the first of three shootings targeting associates, the latest on Wednesday when a 37-year-old man was shot on a property in broad daylight in Heidelberg West.
Haddara himself was nearly killed after being gunned down in the driveway of his family home in Altona North on August 16.
He was released from hospital this week, but doctors are waiting to attempt to remove one bullet still lodged near his jawline.
“He’s up walking around, speaking properly. Friends couldn’t believe it,” an associate said.
A week after the failed hit, a known Haddara associate was shot in the arm while sitting in a cafe in Altona North’s Borrack Square commonly frequented by figures linked to the clan.
On Wednesday afternoon, Victoria Police said a victim had been left suffering from serious injuries after being shot outside a property on Malacca Street in Heidelberg West.
A spokesperson said the unknown offenders fled in a car, and the incident is being treated as targeted.
Two sources, who have knowledge of the incident but spoke anonymously for their safety, identified the 37-year-old as an associate of the Haddara patriarch.
Organised crime gang The Commission is the prime suspect behind the attacks, which signals a renewal of the hostilities that first ignited Melbourne’s tobacco wars.
The Commission, also known as the 313, is the transnational crime gang established by exiled gangland boss Kazem “Kaz” Hamad in early 2023 that has created a nationwide illicit tobacco cartel after waging a campaign of firebombings and shootings.
They had reached an uneasy truce with Haddara who had stepped back from active involvement in the family’s activities after he “surrendered” to Hamad in early 2024 in exchange for an end to a campaign of fire bombings targeting family businesses and a $1 million hit contract put on his head.
However, there have been a number of branches of the extended Haddara family that have allegedly continued to operate in the illicit tobacco market. Some even switched sides and were absorbed into The Commission.
The shootings started just days after the federal and state Joint Organised Crime Taskforce took down a money-laundering syndicate operating between Tasmania and Victoria.
“It is alleged they facilitated the movement of criminal proceeds in cash from Tasmania and Victoria using hire cars and a commercial passenger and freight vessel,” the Australian Federal Police, Australian Border Force and Tasmanian and Victorian police announced.
The operation on August 12 uncovered more than $2.5 million worth of tobacco, over $1 million in cash and $34,000 in silver and gold in raids in Melbourne and near Hobart and Devonport.
A 33-year-old from Hoppers Crossing and a 22-year-old Tasmanian, arrested in Melbourne, have been charged with knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime and recklessly dealing with proceeds of crime.
A 37-year-old from Hoppers Crossing is expected to be charged on summons.
Following Hamad’s arrest in Iraq in January, it is alleged the operation has been taken over by a 23-year-old associate based in Iraq, Ali al-Huseini. Police suspect he is responsible for orchestrating an unprecedented spate of violence targeting Melbourne’s nightlife scene earlier this year.
The Commission has been warning that it will tolerate no rivals in Melbourne’s illicit tobacco market, running a sustained extortion campaign against cigarette retailers. It has also been allegedly warning underworld competitors to acknowledge its authority, and in some cases, pay a “tax” to operate.
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