Victoria Police have arrested a 20-year-old man they claim orchestrated a wave of arson attacks on Melbourne bars and restaurants on behalf of a crime syndicate based in the Middle East, marking a major development in the city's escalating hospitality wars.
Breakthrough in Operation Eclipse
Detectives say the arrest is the most significant since an outfit known as "The Commission" – allegedly led by Kazem "Kaz" Hamad – started targeting Victorian tobacco stores three years ago. That spree of arson attacks more recently morphed into violence at licensed venues.
"This arrest is the most consequential we have made since the inception of Operation Eclipse," Detective Inspector Graham Banks said on Tuesday. "These offences are significant examples of crime as a service – the alleged tasking of kidnapping, home invasion and arson."
Banks said while Hamad had been detained in Iraq earlier this year, "numerous other members of this syndicate" who were also based offshore were directing offending to further its ambitions in Victoria and other states.
Overseas crime figure linked to attempted murder
He said the "most problematic" of these members was a person based in the Middle East who had an outstanding arrest warrant in relation to the attempted murder of Sam Abdulrahim in 2022. Banks claimed the Melbourne man arrested on Tuesday, who was allegedly known as "CommBank" on an encrypted app used to task offenders to carry out attacks, was also considered a high-ranking member of the organised crime group.
"Despite his relatively young age, there is intelligence that suggests he's a very significant part of the organised crime group," Banks alleged. "He self-described … as just an ordinary kid who goes to the gym and runs an empire from his home."
Charges include kidnapping and recruiting children
The 20-year-old, Jesse Hadchiti, was arrested in the city's north-west on Tuesday. He was charged with offences including aggravated home invasion with an offensive weapon, kidnapping, extortion with threats to kill, false imprisonment, attempting to commit arson and three counts of recruiting a child to engage in criminal activity. Hadchiti was expected to face court on Tuesday evening.
"It is believed he 'tasked' offenders via encrypted applications for numerous jobs, including a mistaken-identity kidnapping in Malvern," a police spokesperson said. That kidnapping, which took place in the south-east Melbourne suburb, involved a number of men who assaulted a man inside his home before forcing him into a car on 14 April. He was later dropped outside a hospital. Police believe the victim was not the intended target. Four males have been charged in relation to the assault.
Teenagers recruited via encrypted apps
Investigators also allege that the 20-year-old organised an attempted aggravated home invasion in Doncaster on 28 April. The man is allegedly behind a number of arson attacks that sparked Operation Eclipse on 27 April, according to police. The operation targets crime syndicates believed to be involved in offences linked to hospitality venues, as well as determining the motive for these attacks.
Hamad, 42, was charged in 2014 as part of an Australian Federal Police investigation into heroin trafficking. He was deported to Iraq after completing his sentence in 2023, allegedly joining an increasingly large number of Australian organised crime figures based offshore. Before his arrest, he allegedly recruited teenagers to commit volume offending, such as armed robberies of service stations. Police suspect that informed his practice of recruiting teenagers en masse for the firebombing of tobacco stores and, since earlier this year, hospitality businesses.
Most of those charged with the fires on hospitality businesses have been teenagers, with police repeatedly saying they were recruited via encrypted apps by organised crime figures they had not met, nor had previous involvement with. Many had no prior offending, and the arsons were sometimes rewarded with payments of less than $1,000.
In May, Detective Superintendent Jason Kelly said the use of such young foot soldiers was a global trend, with encrypted phone applications used to recruit attackers. "It's a worldwide issue in terms of how organised crime now are infiltrating children and others to do their dirty work," Kelly said. "Organised crime are out there recruiting kids, we're out there recruiting our law enforcement and government partners to work on this holistically."
Without naming Hamad, the ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess referenced him in his annual threat assessment last week, mentioning the attack Hamad allegedly directed on the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne. "Iran recruited him through a complex web of Iraqi-based militia groups," Burgess alleged. "Valuing his high wealth and criminal connections, the IRGC protected him and supported his illegal enterprises. That changed dramatically after ASIO publicly named Iran's involvement in the antisemitic arsons." Burgess alleged: "This person's Iranian backers lost their enthusiasm, and after further pressure from Australian and local law enforcement, they threw him in prison."
