An ‘untouchable’ kingpin is behind bars in Iraq. But his run may not be over

Not long after Kazem Hamad arrived in Iraq in 2023 and took control of his transnational crime empire, he was pulled over by an Iraqi police officer in a traffic stop.

A search turned up a handgun tucked into a seat and a grenade in a cupholder. But the gangland boss did not spend a single minute in jail. A phone call was enough to have him released with an apology from police.

This story has been circulating in the underworld for more than a year, told in part out of astonishment and in part as a warning about just how powerful the 41-year-old had become.

In Australia, Hamad’s crew were busy waging a relentless turf war for control of Australia’s multibillion-dollar illicit tobacco trade, a battle involving dozens of firebombings and the gunning down of business and personal rivals.

In Iraq, Hamad had been living in a fortified compound for the uber-wealthy in a suburb of Baghdad, protected by guards and running his empire through encryption technology and a network of more than 100 loyal soldiers and lieutenants in Australia.

Less than two years after he was released from prison and deported to his native Iraq, Hamad was seemingly untouchable – pulling strings, but well out of reach of Australian authorities.

That all changed, perhaps forever, on Tuesday, when Iraqi authorities did what almost no one expected them to ever do – detain a man who has been branded one of the most dangerous wanted men in the world.

Iraq’s National Centre for International Judicial Co-operation announced that Hamad – accused of “shootings, murders, kidnappings, violent assaults, extortion, and drug imports”, had been arrested in response to an official request from Australia.

”Unreal. It’s just unreal,” one underworld source said.

The arrest was a dramatic shift, reversal even, from Australia’s long-standing policy of refusing to assist foreign governments in cases where intelligence or charges could lead to the death penalty for an accused.

Yet for more than a year, state and federal law enforcement authorities had been pushing the Attorney-General’s Department to act against Hamad, who had only been going from strength-to-strength in Melbourne’s underworld from his base in Iraq.

The Attorney-General’s Department declined to comment when contacted by this masthead.

“As a matter of longstanding policy, the Australian government does not disclose whether it has made or received an extradition request to or from another country or comment on the details of its consideration of particular cases,” a spokesperson said.

But police and underworld sources, who cannot be identified publicly, said it was Hamad’s alleged involvement in ordering the firebombing of the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne in December 2024 on behalf of the Iranian government that compelled federal authorities to act.

Two months later, Hamad would also be implicated in the death of a woman who had nothing to do with him or his activities. Katie Tangey, 27, and a family dog were killed at a Melbourne home in January 2025 when it was firebombed in a case of mistaken identity. One of Hamad’s rivals was allegedly the target of the attack.

Law enforcement sources say Hamad tops the list of “Australian priority organisation targets”, a designation used by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission for the most significant organised crime groups in the country.

In October, he was also publicly declared a national security threat by Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett over his involvement in the illicit tobacco industry, links to serious violence and suspected involvement in the terror attack on the Australian Jewish community at the Adass Israel synagogue.

Hamad and at least five other associates were known to be the subjects of Interpol notices seeking information about their activities and arrest.

On Wednesday, Barrett said the AFP had supercharged its efforts to stop Hamad by deploying officers overseas to gather intelligence, and working with law enforcement in Iraq.

“Iraqi officials have made an independent decision to arrest this alleged offender after launching their own criminal investigation,” she said.

Victoria Police, which formed the Lunar taskforce in October 2023 to contend with Hamad’s violent rise, said it “welcomes the news” of the arrest.

“We will continue to work with the AFP and our international law enforcement partners to assist as required. Victoria Police is determined to drive down organised crime in this state and the havoc it wreaks on innocent members of the community,” Chief Commissioner Mike Bush said.

The rank-and-file was less reserved. “That [the arrest] is huge,” a veteran organised crime detective said.

A succession plan

But sources also say it would be a mistake to regard Hamad as a spent force. Despite his arrest, he has deep and influential contacts inside the Iraqi security services, including a relative who holds a senior position in the military.

Hamad can also draw on wealth that is calculated to be in the hundreds of millions, if not more, thanks to his creation of a cartel that dominates the multibillion-dollar illicit cigarette market in Australia.

Sources say he had a back-up plan in the event he was ever arrested or killed. This allegedly involves his cousin and second-in-command, Ahmed Al Hamza, taking control of the syndicate in his absence.

The plan involved basing Hamad in Iraq and Al Hamza in Iran, making it difficult, if not impossible, for authorities to take out the top command structure of the gang. Al Hamza’s current whereabouts in the Middle East are unknown. Rumours suggest he could have relocated to Qatar or Kuwait.

Police intelligence obtained by The Age shows Al Hamza was critical to establishing the street power of Hamad’s gang – known as the 313s or Kaz’s Boys – while he was still serving an eight-year sentence for drug trafficking from 2015 to 2023.

This included all but wiping out a rival gang in Melbourne’s northern suburbs, as well as other enemies, in a violent spree involving more than a dozen shootings and other attacks in 2022.

Al Hamza was also allegedly heavily involved in running the gang’s drug trafficking network. This included shipments of more than one tonne of cocaine and methamphetamine that were seized by law enforcement in 2022, allegedly sparking Al Hamza’s flight from Australia before he could be charged.

The 27-year-old spent the next year laying the groundwork for Hamad’s 2023 release from prison and helping to launch the “tobacco war”.

Hamad also has a network of lieutenants and soldiers, many of whom are drawn from family and a common Iraqi background, who have remained staunchly loyal. He will demand and expect that loyalty to continue. No Hamad associate has ever been known to have turned on the boss, even when facing steep jail time.

He also has shown himself to be able to manipulate events from inside prison. While serving his drug trafficking sentence, Hamad forged alliances and business deals with other jailed gang leaders that allowed him to rocket to the top of the gangland upon his release.

There is also a big question mark over whether Hamad will remain detained in Iraq given the system is known for rampant corruption.

“Surely, he can pay his way out,” one veteran detective said.

Out of the 180 countries listed on Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index, Iraq is ranked at 140.

For now at least, Melbourne’s underworld is alive with somewhat premature speculation that Hamad’s reign as the new gangland kingpin is over.

“Everyone deserted him. He’s finished,” one source said, adding that Hamad’s businesses would crash and burn once news of his arrest got out.

How deserved or long-lasting this sense of triumphalism among his rivals and enemies is remains to be seen. Others warn that it’s a foolish gamble to dismiss someone who was able to upend the order of the underworld in less than two years and is well on his way to becoming a billionaire.

Uncharted waters

Commonwealth authorities have, in the past, refused to put up cases or supply intelligence to foreign governments that could lead to charges against Australians or other nationals where the death penalty is in play. This is particularly the case when drugs and drug-trafficking are involved.

But the statement issued by Iraq’s National Centre for International Judicial Co-operation clearly puts drugs at the centre of the move against Hamad.

“The accused individual … was arrested in co-ordination with the General Directorate of Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Affairs at the Ministry of Interior, after obtaining the necessary approvals from the Supreme Judicial Council to conduct investigations against him,” the statement, which has been translated from Arabic, reads.

“The proceedings were initiated by the First Karkh Investigation Court, which specialises in drug cases.”

The statement also refers to Hamad as “one of the most dangerous, wanted men in the world”, and accuses him of being “responsible for importing large quantities of drugs into Iraq and Australia, as well as smuggling heroin”.

Drug trafficking is punishable by death or life imprisonment in Iraq, meaning Hamad’s life could be on the line if he is to be prosecuted in the country. Australia does not have an extradition agreement with Iraq, and co-operation between the two nations is close to non-existent.

Dr Gideon Boas, a barrister and adjunct professor of law at La Trobe University, said it was likely Australia and Iraq were relying upon a 1930s extradition treaty between Iraq and the United Kingdom which has been incorporated into Australian law.

Boas said it was up to Iraqi authorities to decide whether they would prosecute Hamad for any crimes alleged to have been committed in Iraq before any extradition to Australia.

Authorities in Baghdad can also decide to extradite him directly, a move that would shield Hamad from a potential death sentence in Iraq.

Donald Rothwell, a professor of international law at the Australian National University, said Australia could also rely on more modern multilateral treaties dealing with transnational organised crime and drug trafficking signed by both nations.

Rothwell said the statement released by Iraqi authorities announcing Hamad’s arrest was promising, but it was too soon to know how a potential extradition would play out. He said Australian authorities were moving in uncharted waters, and would probably be very cautious about their next steps.

It is not the first time Australian authorities have interceded with a foreign government in an attempt to frustrate Hamad.

In mid-2023, after he was deported from Australia to Iraq, he almost immediately moved to Dubai, where Al Hamza had set up their original base of operations in the region. In those first few months of freedom, Hamad would be linked by law enforcement and the underworld to a string of brazen attacks, including the murder of Mohammed “Afghan Ali” Keshtiar and a plot to desecrate the grave of Meshilin Marrogi, who was the sister and lieutenant of his long-time enemy George Marrogi.

Lobbying from Australian law enforcement resulted in Hamad being deported from the UAE after just three months, leading to his return to Iraq, where he has been since – seemingly invulnerable.

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