behind firebombings across the state<\/a> is in the midst of a \u201cmajor new escalation of violence\u201d that includes abducting individuals off the street in broad daylight.<\/p>\nThe most notable example of that tactic was carried out in Morwell, a town in the Latrobe Valley region, 150km east of Melbourne, last month.<\/p>\n
There, a local shop owner reportedly refused an extortion attempt before a relative was abducted off the street in the middle of a quiet Saturday, forced into a black sedan and assaulted with a knife.<\/p>\n
A Victoria Police spokesperson told news.com.au the incident unfolded in broad daylight on August 1.<\/p>\n
\u201cLatrobe Crime Investigation Unit detectives have been told a man was walking near the intersection of Sydney Street and Princes Drive when he was approached by unknown offenders and placed into a black sedan about 12.40pm,\u201d a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe man was taken to an unknown location and assaulted before the offenders fled. He was assisted by passers-by before presenting to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe investigation is ongoing but at this time detectives believe this was a targeted incident.\u201d <\/p>\n
![\"Kazem](\"https:\/\/content.api.news\/v3\/images\/bin\/f6499dc3265cca4f7f9b2c937bee675e\")
<\/p>\n
Naumenko, the Melbourne underworld reporter who has connections to those pulling the strings in Iraq, told news.com.au \u201cthere\u2019s a bit going on\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cI spoke to the boys overseas last night and very f***ing interesting,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was shocked by that kidnapping in Morwell too. That\u2019s basically why I reached out to them, I was like, I need to know a bit more. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a bit f***ing insane right now for it to be going way out into the country like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Victoria Police last month made what they claimed was a major breakthrough in the wars that have ravaged Melbourne with the arrest of a key player, alleged firebombing director Jesse Hadchiti, 20.<\/p>\n
But Naumenko shared a message after Hadchiti\u2019s arrest from those overseas.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing stops and nothing changes,\u201d The Commission told him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe beast has awoken. Tax continues to be paid and the boys will continue to burn.\u201d<\/p>\n
This week, Naumenko again reached out to those in the Middle East. The response was definitive \u2014 they cannot be touched.<\/p>\n
\u201cHave the arrests made any real impact,\u201d he asked the current leader, a person he does not wish to name.
\u201cHahahaha does it look like it,\u201d was the reply. \u201cNo effect brother. (Zero).\u201d<\/p>\n
Naumenko told news.com.au on Friday that the Morwell incident is a genuine escalation.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter hearing of a kidnapping performed on behalf of The Commission in Morwell recently, it made me wonder if any of these recent arrests have slowed anything down,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI asked the current leader based overseas last night \u2014 who I won\u2019t name \u2014 if VicPol\u2019s investigation and recent arrests of high ranking members had any impact on the organisation, he told me bluntly \u201cwhat do you think\u201d followed by \u2018No effect brother, 0\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe these arrests are simply a show of assumed control by Victoria Police. <\/p>\n
\u201cAll these arrests are doing is sending those calling the shots overseas \u2018underground\u2019, that is until the heat dies down, and the carnage begins, again.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Commission, as far as I\u2019ve seen, is incredibly well organised. They have multiple indispensable \u2018lieutenants\u2019 available and at the ready to take over senior positions as others are pinched. <\/p>\n
\u2018There is no ending this \u2018war\u2019 (that I can see) at least not until the federal government lower the tobacco excise tax. The industry is far too lucrative to let go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rohan Pike, a former Australian Federal Police officer and now investigative consultant, said it is almost impossible for authorities to get a grip on the city\u2019s ongoing organised crime crisis.<\/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
The Age reports that a 23-year-old associate of Hamad has taken control of operations since Hamad, whose real name is Kadhim Malik Hamad Rabah al-Hajami, was jailed by the Karkh Criminal Court in Baghdad over importing drugs into Iraq and Australia.<\/p>\n
The newspaper claims he is responsible for a significant change of pace for The Commission and has ordered several kidnappings and shootings, some of which allegedly took place with children present. <\/p>\n
The so-called \u201cKaz tax\u201d has been blamed for more than 200 tobacconists being burned to ground in Victoria in the past few years.<\/p>\n
Bars, clubs and even high-end restaurants were targeted next, many of which received a haunting threat via text message that read: \u201cIf you got this message were (sic) after you, your family, your business, homes and souls. We will take it by force if you don\u2019t comply the police can\u2019t help you. We will take it by force if you don\u2019t comply the police can\u2019t help you its inevitable we won\u2019t stop till we get what we want.\u201d<\/p>\n
April was the most brutal month for venue owners with the attacks a near-nightly occurrence. Both the Men\u2019s Gallery and Kittens Strip Club were hit on April 14 and 16, respectively.<\/p>\n
On April 15, the night after the Men\u2019s Gallery was targeted, the Albion Hotel in South Melbourne saw three separate fires lit around 3am.<\/p>\n
A night later, about 4am, the thriving Emerson nightclub in South Yarra was set alight.<\/p>\n
SoHo, on Southbank, was bombed by two teens, including one seen running from the venue as flames poured out. He was carrying a machete.<\/p>\n
Bar Bambi, in ACDC Lane, a venue hugely popular with sportspeople and local celebrities \u2014 and which Drake hired out last year when he visited Melbourne \u2014 was targeted.<\/p>\n
It would be set alight a week later.<\/p>\n
On April 23, France-Soir \u2014 a sophisticated French bistro on Toorak Road in South Yarra \u2014 was the target of a suspected arson attempt foiled by passers-by who noticed a pair of individuals loitering with a jerry can.<\/p>\n
A distillery, 80 Proof in Keysborough, erupted in flames about 10.30pm on April 24.<\/p>\n
And on April 26, footage emerged of the moment arsonists jumped from a vehicle and set Bar Up alight. The popular Chapel Street venue was engulfed in flames around 5am and completely destroyed.<\/p>\n
Teens, recruited in what police describe as an Airtasker-style approach, are carrying out the firebombings for a few hundred dollars. <\/p>\n
Detective Inspector Chris Murray, the man in charge of Victoria\u2019s arson and explosive squad, said they are disposable and their co-operation keeps organisers at arm\u2019s length from the violence \u2014 and from police. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey go and get paid to do a task that\u2019s offered by someone. Get paid a few hundred dollars.,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOften they don\u2019t even know who they\u2019re working for. That\u2019s the business model that we see. So they\u2019re being used.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we suspect is that these jobs are being tasked out to anyone, and probably the one common denominator is that there is someone sitting above who is pulling the strings.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re the ones we\u2019re interested in. These young kids are being used as cannon fodder for a few hundred dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n
Insp Banks said in June that The Commission won\u2019t stop at tobacco or alcohol. They\u2019ll get into \u201cevery single thing you can think of \u2014 and then they think of something else.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said 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
In the Middle East, the group is continuing to evolve without Kaz at the controls.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere a man in Saudi Arabia doing a lot of ordering of this shit, too,\u201d Naumenko told news.com.au. \u201cHe\u2019s linked with Kaz.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 with Heath Parkes-Hupton<\/p>\n
Read related topics:Melbourne<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A note on the shutter door of a Melbourne bayside business selling American snacks and tobacco was 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