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- [00:01]
A
I'm Ruby Jones and you're listening to 7am. It started with a single nightclub attack and escalated into what's been dubbed Melbourne's hospitality crime war. More than 30 clubs, pubs and restaurants have now been targeted in drive by shootings, break ins and firebombings. And while dozens of arrests have now been made, the people behind the attacks remain a mystery. One theory, that an international crime syndicate led by a man called the Ghost is ordering the hits from a bunker in Iraq. Today, senior reporter at the Herald Sun, Seb Costello on the escalating attacks threatening the lives and livelihoods of Melbourne venue owners. It's Friday, may 22, So city Seb, could you begin by just taking me back a few months to when we first started to hear about these attacks on clubs and restaurants in Melbourne and what first started to come out?
- [01:07]
B
Yeah, I think it first happened with the Love Machine, which was a fairly notorious nightclub in the Prahran area.
- [01:12]
A
Thankfully, nobody was inside when this blaze broke out just after 2:00 this morning, sparking a huge response from firefighters that
- [01:22]
B
was completely gutted by arsonists. Towards the end of March, Love Machine has ended in flames.
- [01:28]
A
Arsonists destroyed the venue in the early hours of this morning and organised crime figures are among the suspects.
- [01:34]
B
But when that happened, you know, Love Machine had attracted a lot of attention. There'd been a fatal shooting there pre Covid somebody had been jailed for that. You know, it was understood to be a fairly hot, you know, drug market for police. Looking at that very closely, the club
- [01:48]
A
has a checkered history. In 2019, a security guard and a patron were shot dead during a drive by shooting. In August 2024, a group of young men were involved in a stabbing.
- [01:59]
B
But over, you know, the course of April, and we basically had some sort of attack every night, be it an arson or an attempted kidnapping or a bashing.
- [02:09]
A
In South Melbourne, the George Hotel was firebombed. The owners questioning why they have been caught up in the chaos.
- [02:15]
B
You know, by the time there were at least a dozen attacks on bars and clubs, that's when the police started to link these. But what was clearly common between the different attacks was the way they were being carried out. So it was often, you know, in the early hours of the morning when the venues were empty, it was by young people and, you know, it was generally the same sort of mo. Smash open the front door, carry a jerry can, splash that around and light it on fire. It appears arsonists have used a vehicle to ram their way through a roller door to get inside and then gone upstairs and spread accelerant. Two 20 litre jerry cans were found out the front and this was a big blaze. It took probably three weeks before Victoria Police formally put together their Operation Eclipse task force. But it was pretty clear by the way these attacks were being carried out that there was some similarities. We've had a real escalation that we're addressing through Operation Eclipse, an escalation of crimes that include fire bombings and arsons, home invasions, kidnappings and shootings.
- [03:23]
A
Right. And that task force has made some arrests. So what do we know about who police say are carrying out the attacks?
- [03:30]
B
What we now know is that there is encrypted apps that, I guess, crime lords, if you like, are using to try and recruit teenagers to actually do their dirty work. So, you know, the teenagers are sort of told, you know, you'll be treated with lightly in the justice system. It's your first offence, you'll probably, you know, not really face any real penalty. And they lure them in with those promises, as well as the offer of cash and sometimes drugs. And so once they've got these teenagers on the hook, they, you know, give them the instruction, we want a firebombing done at this venue. And as I understand it, they're even provided with the stolen cars with cloned plates in order to carry out the attack. And often when these teenagers are told where the stolen car is, they'll get there and they'll find the materials to carry out the attack in the car. So the jerry can and the lighter will already be there, so, you know, they can earn the cash.
- [04:19]
A
And so are they likely to know who's actually recruiting them?
- [04:22]
B
Unlikely. Yeah. I think a lot of this is done at a distance through the encrypted phone apps. And who is recruiting them, you know, is really the biggest question at the moment. You know, there's a lot of questions and not so many answers. You know, there's still multiple theories as to what's going on here. You know, what we do know is there's been a heck of a lot of damage. There's been dozens of arrests, more than 140 charges laid. But, you know, there's also venue owners who are living in fear.
- [04:48]
A
A hospitality venue owner has been shot at during an aggravated home invasion in what appears to be a dangerous escalation of Melbourne's pub wars.
- [04:56]
B
We've had no approach, no approaches, no demands, no hint that anything like this would happen. I know venue owners who have moved away from their family home, or at least, you know, the owner themselves. Is living somewhere else while their wife and children might be in the family home. There's a lot of fear and, you know, there's a lot of damage being done. What we are determined to work out is what's the real motive behind these crimes? There are a number of theories and at the moment they remain theories, although we have a body of evidence that might take us in a particular direction.
- [05:29]
A
Well, let's talk through some of the theories that are behind these attacks because as you say, there's a few different ideas that have been canvassed.
- [05:37]
B
Yeah. And I think, look, I'm going to stick with what I know to be true because there's a lot of guesswork going on. That's the honest truth. So the main five theories are the sale of tax free or illicit alcohol. The idea that a crime gang is trying to push illicit alcohol onto venues. It was a drug, the sale of cocaine. Number three was, you know, teams of nightclub promoters doing illegal activity. That was one of them. You know, number four was just a basic standover racket where, you know, you extract attacks from businesses in exchange for, you know, protection. And number five was this link that's being explored along with the Australian Federal Police, and that is that Middle Eastern crime gangs with bosses based in Iraq are pulling the strings on this.
- [06:22]
A
Hmm. Let's talk about the illicit alcohol trade first. What's your understanding of how widespread that is?
- [06:28]
B
Yeah, I mean, there is illegal alcohol being or untaxed alcohol being sold at a large amount of bottle shops. So it only stands to reason that it's made its way into the venues too. I've spoken to at least one former club owner. He actually owned one of the clubs that was firebombed, who said they had recently had, you know, a fairly rough looking, you know, vodka salesman, I'll say in quotation marks, come in and try and push cheap liqu. So that is going on to the extent to which it's part of the, you know, campaign of violence, the hospitality terrorism, as it's called. You know, that's still a bit unclear.
- [07:04]
A
Right. And the offshore crime syndicate that you mentioned, more information about them has come to light recently. So tell me what you know.
- [07:12]
B
Yeah, there's a few different names to mention there. The first is Kaz Hamad. And Kaz is a crime gang leader who was very much into the sale of illicit tobacco in Melbourne. A man in exile, but according to police, still a kingpin in Melbourne's underworld. You know, he escaped to the Middle east, but, you know, he's pulled out Something like a billion dollars in the sale of illegal or untaxed tobacco. So, you know, before we had nightclubs being bombed, it was smoke shops, and he was thought to be behind that. From 2023, Kazem Hammad is suspected of orchestrating a series of tobacco store firebombings. He also allegedly ordered a botched attack on a home in which an innocent resident was killed. He's currently in custody in Iraq, but he's detained by Iraqi officials. He has a lieutenant, you know, somebody who he's quite close to, nicknamed the Ghost. And that person was involved in a number of high profile crimes before they fled to the Middle East. You know, the Ghost was one of the shooters who, you know, attempted to assassinate former boxer Sam the Punisher. And the Punisher survived that attempt on his life, only to be shot dead sometime later. The Ghost is, you know, barely out of his early 20s. The story goes that, you know, he is impatient and, you know, disrespectful of other underworld figures and that he's just attacking businesses willy nilly without too much organization about it, which, you know, makes him a dangerous person. You know, it's not clear that that is where the shots are being called from in Iraq, but I think part of the reason that theory has, you know, picked up some speed is because, you know, these same people were firebombing businesses during the tobacco wars. So it stands to reason that you might explore whether they are doing it this time around.
- [09:12]
A
Coming up, the challenge for police in tackling an overseas mastermind. Seb, in terms of what's happening on the ground, police say they're patrolling the city every night. They're trying to catch people before they carry out an attack. But how effective can that approach be if the orders are coming from overseas?
- [09:35]
B
Yeah, well, definitely there's limitations on, you know, how they can hold people in another country to account. Yeah, that's a concern. You know, it's outside their jurisdiction. Personally, I'm starting to suspect that at least some of the attacks are for, you know, far more homegrown reasons. You know, either a personal grudge. You know, maybe there has been some dispute over the sale of narcotics in some of these nightclubs. I just think the Tobacco wars was quite organised and it was done with a really deliberate financial motive. You know, these people were saying, if you don't stock our illegal cigarettes, we'll blow you up. You know, we haven't yet seen a financial ask. You know, so I just think for the crime figures, if they were behind it and investing all this money in foot soldiers going out and doing the dirty work and the arsons. And we have a clearer idea of how they were financially benefiting from it. That's not to say that, you know, none of these attacks could have been ordered from overseas. Particularly when you've got some venues that have been attacked twice. There's a venue that's been attacked three times that shows that this is about, you know, specific, you know, resentments or specific targets, rather than the initial feeling that this was some sort of industry wide campaign and that no one was safe.
- [10:46]
A
Mm. And you said you've spoken to venue owners. What are they doing to try and protect themselves?
- [10:52]
B
Well, security. They're investing in security. You know, they're putting on more security guards than they usually would. They're upgrading things like CCTV cameras, bollards, outside venues. You know, there was a group of venue owners who met with the Opposition leader, Jess Wilson, last week. The next day, the venue where they all gathered for that meeting was the subject of an arson attack. So, you know, I don't think that was linked, but, you know, it was a real coincidence, that's for sure. So, look, they're asking for help, both the politicians and the police. And, you know, as I say, a lot of them are making themselves scarce. I mean, what really concerned people was when we saw not just, you know, arson attacks on an empty nightclub, but nightclub figures being attacked, you know, outside their homes. You know, there was a nightclub promoter who was bashed outside his home in the eastern suburbs one evening. He was taken to hospital. The crooks then returned to his family home, kicked in the door and bashed his dad, you know, and the dad, you know, was not a nightclub figure. So, yeah, there's some real nervousness, you know, when these incidents spill out into the suburbs. And it just kind of gives a lot of people an uneasy feeling about the lawlessness of it all.
- [12:02]
A
And so, you know, talking to business owners and police sources, do you get the sense that there is an end in sight?
- [12:11]
B
I do. From my observation, police have a really good sight line on who the kids are and whether that means they've got a. You know, they've been able to peep into the way the encrypted app works or whether they've got moles inside the criminal organisation. Because, for example, that Templestow bashing, I reported on it one Wednesday, and by the Thursday, police had rounded up the three kids who were suspected of doing it. So they seemed to be able to pick up the foot soldiers fairly quickly, building a big Case against a crime boss, you know, takes a lot longer. But, you know, for a 10 day period between last week and the week before, there were no attacks. Then we had the one I mentioned at the bar where the Opposition leader had held a secret meeting. So I think people are nervous. You know, I saw some young people who were being interviewed on TV the other night. They decided to, you know, call off their night and go home. You know, I think the venue owners are definitely telling me that their trade is being affected. Not all venues, but, you know, those that have been in the limelight. It's a real kick in the guts for hospitality broadly because, you know, they've just gone through Covid. They're dealing with, you know, different tax changes in Victoria and nationally, you know, now they've got this criminal activity to deal with. So there's an industry that's really important to Melbourne. I've always felt, you know, Melbourne is about food and wine and, you know, characters running restaurants. It's not a city that has, you know, the beauty of a harbour to point to, you know, our bridge over the Yarra, the West Gates, not quite as pretty as the Harbour Bridge, I'll admit that. And so it's important to have a thriving hospitality sector in Melbourne. And, you know, so that's why, you know, we're all kind of barracking for the police to get on top of this one.
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A
Osab, thank you so much for your time.
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B
Thanks, Ruby.
- [14:06]
A
Also in the news, DFAT says it's urgently seeking welfare updates for 11 Australians detained by Israeli forces after a Gaza bound aid flotilla was intercepted in international waters. Organisers of the Global Sumud flotilla say all of the boats in the convoy were intercepted and around 430 people detained and taken to Israel. Foreign Minister Penny Wong has condemned footage posted by Israel's far right National Security Minister Itmar Ben GVIR showing detained activists forced to kneel with their hands zip tied and says DFAT has called in Israel's ambassador to Australia. Meanwhile, families of the detained Australians say they've had no contact with their loved ones since the interception and are demanding the Federal government do more to secure their release. And the Federal government has announced a 7 $1.2 million package to tackle Australia's worst diphtheria outbreak in decades. The funding will support the Northern Territory and Aboriginal community controlled health services on the frontline, covering extra staff, vaccines and help for hard hit communities. More than 230 cases have been recorded across Australia this year, about 30 times the annual average with more than half in the Northern Territory. I'm Ruby Jones. This is 7am thanks for listening, Sam.