Police are closing in on a family crime syndicate suspected of being behind Perth’s escalating tobacco wars.

Last week, Police Commissioner Col Blanch revealed he believed “tobacco king” Kazem Hamad was trying to expand his monopoly of the illicit tobacco trade to Western Australia, following firebombings and shootings at several Perth stores in recent months.

Maytham Hamad leaving Perth Magistrates Court in June 2025.

Police allege Kazem is calling the shots from the Middle East after being deported from Australia in 2023. Despite his eviction, more than 150 tobacco store-related fire bombings have occurred in Melbourne over the past year, which police believe are linked to the gangland boss.

Kazem’s younger brother Maytham Hamad moved to Perth in 2022.

Last June he was arrested

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