Hamad and Abdulrahim have been warring since 2016 when gangland figure George Marrogi was charged with the murder of Hamad associate Kadir Ors.
In Marrogi’s murder trial it was alleged that Abdulrahim may have been involved in luring Ors to the Campbellfield car park where he was gunned down.
Former Mongols bikie Suleiman “Sam” Abdulrahim reinvented himself as a boxer.Credit: Instagram
The feud is also the suspected motive of a firebombing of the QRoom venue in Thomastown in late July. A fight night featuring Abdulrahim’s nephew, known by the nickname “Punisher Jr”, was subsequently cancelled due to police safety fears.
Police and underworld sources say Hamad’s war with Abdulrahim is both business – over control of the tobacco market – and deeply personal. This has included numerous firebombing attacks at venues and properties linked to Abdulrahim but otherwise owned or operated by uninvolved parties.
The Thomastown property that was allegedly targeted again on Monday is owned by a relative of Abdulrahim, but has been unoccupied since the ex-Mongol bikie was targeted in a murder attempt at the address in May.
Seventeen bullets were sprayed at Abdulrahim when he was lured outside to be executed on May 24. But Abdulrahim fought back, ramming his car into the gunman’s BMW and chasing them away.
The burnt-out home in Thomastown on Monday morning.Credit: Simon Schluter
The botched hit came after the underworld figure allegedly joined forces with an interstate gang to gain control of a slice of Victoria’s billion-dollar illicit tobacco market.
In February, police warned Abdulrahim about a contract on his life and advised him against fighting at an upcoming boxing match. Two separate venues due to host the fight were later firebombed, causing extensive damage and prompting organisers to cancel the bout.
In June, his family’s Larch Street townhouse was peppered with bullets again in what police described as another “targeted incident”. Four businesses connected to Abdulrahim have also been allegedly torched over the last 18 months, including a Moonee Ponds tobacco and vape store that was targeted three times.
The plethora of attacks on the underworld figure come after he survived being shot eight times while driving in a funeral procession outside Fawkner cemetery in June 2022. Police say the gunmen allegedly responsible for the daylight assassination attempt fled overseas.
Several suspicious fires flared elsewhere in Melbourne early on Monday.
In the city’s south-east, a suspicious fire engulfed a property in a disused retirement village on Gladesville Boulevard, Patterson Lakes about 1.20am.
In Melbourne’s west, a crime scene was established after a suspicious fire at a tobacco store in Cairnlea about 6.05am.
Last night in Richmond, a 37-year-old was arrested for alleged arson after a fire started in an apartment block on Clark Street about 9.15pm. Police said a resident set fire to his own apartment and the blaze damaged four other units.
Police are urging anyone who witnessed the incidents or with information to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or log onto www.crimestoppersvic.com.au.
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