Just hours after police claimed they had arrested a key player in the tobacco and bar wars that have ravaged Melbourne, a message purported to be from his alleged superiors was released.<\/p>\n
A mysterious underworld cartel dubbed \u201cThe Commission\u201d issued a warning through crime news journalist Ryan Naumenko from Outlaw Media.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing stops and nothing changes,\u201d the missive shared on his social media read. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe beast has awoken … Tax continues to be paid and the boys will continue to burn.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unclear if The Commission had already made good on their word, but the attacks in Melbourne have continued.<\/p>\n
Several suburban businesses went up in flames in overnight attacks in the days after alleged firebombing director Jesse Hadchiti, 20, was arrested on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday night a house in Gladstone Park was shot at. A furniture store in Tullamarine was ram raided and set ablaze in the early hours of Thursday morning. <\/p>\n
There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by the victims of the latest arson attacks.<\/p>\n
Rohan Pike, a former Australian Federal Police officer and now investigative consultant, said such incidents showed how difficult it was for authorities to get a grip on the city\u2019s ongoing organised crime crisis. <\/p>\n
They could have been intended as a \u201cstatement that you can\u2019t arrest your way out of it\u201d,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cVictoria Police has made … so many arrests that it\u2019s almost impossible to count them now, but perhaps between 300 and 500 arrests,\u201d Mr Pike said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd despite all that we haven\u2019t seen regular crime on the streets as we have like this ever. It\u2019s the worst it\u2019s ever been.\u201d<\/p>\n
Victoria Police allege Mr Hadchiti, 20, was the \u201cmain tasker\u201d of The Commission in Australia and had been \u201cfront and centre\u201d in serious crimes including firebombings and kidnappings. <\/p>\n
Detective Inspector Graham Banks alleged Mr Hadchiti\u2019s arrest was \u201cthe most consequential\u201d made in three years of investigations into The Commission\u2019s activities<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is intelligence to suggest he is a very significant part of the organised crime group,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe is most recently operated and tasked under an encrypted app handle by the name of CommBank … he came up with this handle based on the amount of wealth he was generating for the criminal organisation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI also understand he described himself as just an ordinary kid who goes to the gym and runs an empire from his home.<\/p>\n
\u201cPolice believe the matters that he is currently being interviewed for are the tip of the iceberg.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 20-year-old has been charged with offences including aggravated home invasion, kidnapping, threats to kill, attempting to commit arson and recruiting a child for criminal activity, all of which were related to three separate alleged incidents in April.<\/p>\n
He remains before the courts.<\/p>\n
Insp Banks also publicly revealed the people police allege had been running The Commission from overseas and just how far its tentacles go in Australia.<\/p>\n
What is The Commission?<\/p>\n
A group calling itself The Commission first came to prominence in 2021, sending threatening messages to \u201cmain players\u201d in Sydney\u2019s drug supply network.<\/p>\n
The group linked to the Comanchero bikie gang warned it would set the price of cocaine by force, saying it would bring a sense of \u201cstructure\u201d to the black market.<\/p>\n
Several figures previously connected to The Commission have been arrested or killed over the past five years, and NSW Police claimed in 2024 to have dismantled what remained of the so-called underworld \u201cgovernment, bank and economy\u201d.<\/p>\n
It appears that \u201cThe Commission\u201d alleged to be behind the widescale extortion of Melbourne shops and Australia\u2019s billion-dollar illegal tobacco trade is a different entity, going by Insp Bank\u2019s media briefing last week.<\/p>\n
He said illegal tobacco kingpin Kazem \u201cKaz\u201d Hamad allegedly founded the network run from offshore, having been deported to Iraq in 2023 after his release from jail in Victoria.<\/p>\n
Hamad was described as \u201cone of the most dangerous men in the world\u201d when arrested by authorities in Iraq earlier this year and his current whereabouts is unknown.<\/p>\n
Police now allege one of his lieutenants is calling the shots from the Middle East.<\/p>\n
Even though Hamad\u2019s group and the network that first reared its head in 2021 are different, they employ similar tactics.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey use threats and violence and so on in an increasing fashion to get their point across,\u201d Mr Pike said. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd obviously extortion is front and centre of the methodology.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018They\u2019re into everything\u2019<\/p>\n
Victoria Police believe The Commission, or Hamad\u2019s 313 syndicate, was \u201cprincipally to blame\u201d for the recent spate of firebombings targeting bars and restaurants in Melbourne.<\/p>\n
It had previously been focused on controlling the illicit tobacco trade, burning shops that sold rival products or did not pay what has become known as the \u201cKaz tax\u201d.<\/p>\n
About 200 tobacconists have gone up in flames in the past few years in Victoria alone.<\/p>\n
Insp Banks alleged the group also partnered with other crime networks and was behind the trafficking of \u201chundreds of kilos, tonnes\u201d of cocaine.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re into every single thing you can think of. And then they think of something else,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The senior cop listed barber shops, acai spots and cafes as other businesses that have recently been targeted. <\/p>\n
Last month signs appeared on stores in the city with the message \u201cContact the Commission on WhatsApp asap!\u201d with a phone number listed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are looking at tobacco shops as a method of making money,\u201d Insp Banks said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re looking at licensed premises, whether they be run completely above board or otherwise, as a place that they can victimise to seek money from. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd my concern is that\u2019s just going to keep evolving … It\u2019s concerning that it can be any type of business that sits on a high street.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Pike, who created the Australian Border Force\u2019s Tobacco Strike Team, was also worried the extortion rackets would not stop at hospitality venues.<\/p>\n
He said organised crime was \u201cawash with cash\u201d thanks to illegal tobacco and were \u201cgrowing stronger every day\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd if they choose to they could just start extorting any retail business \u2013 and that\u2019s just mayhem,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo that\u2019s really scary, that sort of prospect. But that\u2019s the way it\u2019s heading at the moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s mafia like behaviour.\u201d<\/p>\n
An \u2018organism constantly changing\u2019<\/p>\n
The scale of The Commission\u2019s alleged operation was revealed when Insp Banks told media Mr Hadchiti allegedly boasted of having 2000 people to call on in Australia. <\/p>\n
\u201cI personally believe that\u2019s an elevated number, but it\u2019s well within the realms of possibility that it\u2019s literally hundreds,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said the group was an \u201corganism constantly changing\u201d that worked with youth gangs and other crime networks.<\/p>\n
Insp Banks spoke about the \u201cpolicy\u201d issues facing police trying to combat offshore criminals, including the inability to issue Interpol red notices for wanted people due to concerns over death penalties in some countries criminals are suspected of holing up in.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think anyone\u2019s or not many people … have talked about what that does as a consequence of that decision going forward,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we certainly need to make it the most hostile environment we can onshore and offshore.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Pike said one of the biggest problems for law enforcement was the laws around tobacco products that have led to the black market becoming so lucrative.<\/p>\n
He said the violence seen in Melbourne and elsewhere was a \u201csymptom\u201d of these policies, which had been \u201ca gift to organised crime\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite Kaz being locked up, despite (alleged associate Ahmed) Al Hamzah being locked up, the violence is stronger, more prevalent than ever,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe availability of the illicit product on the street is the same as ever, if not more.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Pay with blood\u2019<\/p>\n
Gruesome footage of an apparent gangland hostage situation credited to The Commission was obtained by Outlaw Media earlier this month.<\/p>\n
In the video a man flanked by two black-clad guards had a gun pressed against his wounded head as he recited a warning purportedly from the crime network.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is The Commission,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you don\u2019t obey the law you\u2019ll be dragged out of the house and you\u2019ll pay by blood.\u201d<\/p>\n
News.com.au understands the incident took place in Victoria but it is unclear when.<\/p>\n
It came days after The Commission warned the underworld it wanted cocaine prices to rise, citing the seizure of 2.7 tonnes of the drug in Sydney.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone needs to limit the supply for the next 2-3 weeks … No reason to sell ourselves short,\u201d the message read.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny stamps being sold cheap will be targeted.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Pike believed the gangland violence would not stop any time soon, despite last week\u2019s breakthrough arrest.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis just provides an opportunity for someone in the lower ranks to move up the chain of command,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s also a possibility that rival syndicates might use this as an opportunity to fill a power vacuum and try to make a mark on the industry. <\/p>\n
\u201cPerhaps they\u2019ve been overridden previously by Kaz\u2019s group and they might see this as a weakness and that they it\u2019s time for them to put their hand up again.\u201d<\/p>\n