ABC News (AU)
· collected 2026-10-08 · by Danny Tran, Olivia Jenkins, and Alex Turner-Cohen
How Kazem Hamad, the 'Commission' and other tobacco cartels send black market profits offshore
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Hamad → send → profits
In short:
Cartels are using sophisticated networks to send cash from illicit tobacco sales in Australia overseas.
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Cartels → use → Australia
Jailed tobacco kingpin Kazem Hamad allegedly reaps riches via a secret and untraceable pipeline also used by terrorists.
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Hamad → reap → terrorists
Police sources tell the ABC they are frustrated by a lack of resourcing and the high taxes driving a violent black market tobacco trade.
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they → tell → trade
Australia's illicit tobacco trade has become so lucrative that criminal overlords have built a secret pipeline suspected of smuggling tens of millions of dollars in profits overseas.
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overlords → become → profits
The ABC can reveal details of a sophisticated money laundering network that spans multiple states believed to be washing huge sums for the major cartels, including banished Iraqi kingpin Kazem Hamad, who allegedly used it to enrich himself in exile.
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who → reveal → exile
Current and former law enforcement sources say the secret pipeline is believed to have funnelled cash out of the country by exploiting private ATMs, payment platforms and suburban businesses using an ancient money transfer method favoured by terrorists.
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pipeline → say → terrorists
At the centre of the network is an Iraqi asylum seeker who, despite being on a protection visa, authorities believe became a bagman for the cartels by collecting cash from shops they supplied with illicit tobacco.
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they → believe → tobacco
Here's how it works
The bagman is suspected of funnelling millions of dollars to Dubai where Hamad, one of the most violent forces behind the so-called tobacco wars, was the puppet master of a group known as the "Commission".
Authorities have linked the bagman to other businesses and networks believed to have laundered money on behalf of the Commission, including one of Hamad's former family members.
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Authorities → work → members
It follows the Commission's audacious expansion across Australia allegedly spearheaded by figures related by blood, marriage or criminal connections to Hamad, who was jailed for life in Iraq earlier this year.
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who → follow → Iraq
For years, state and federal investigators have fought a public battle to extinguish the conflict marked by hundreds of firebombings, underworld assassinations and the murder of an innocent Melbourne woman by bumbling foot soldiers.
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investigators → fight → soldiers
There were hopes that Hamad's arrest and imprisonment earlier this year would destabilise his violent campaign but it appears to have had little impact, with terrifying violence continuing to spill onto suburban streets across the country.
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violence → be → country
Untraceable cash network hijacked by criminals
Until now, precisely how the nation's tobacco crime lords managed to move money in and out of the country has never been publicly aired.
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lords → hijack → country
Hamad, who was deported from Australia for drug trafficking, was initially in Dubai and separated from his wealth by thousands of kilometres.
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who → deport → kilometres
If illegal tobacco cash is kept onshore, profits risk being seized by authorities as criminal proceeds.
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profits → keep → proceeds
The ABC can reveal money was allegedly siphoned out of the country by figures like the bagman.
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money → reveal → bagman
Law enforcement sources say he travelled up and down Australia's east coast collecting duffel bags and boxes stuffed with cash.
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he → say → cash
Hamad is believed to have moved significant amounts of funds via the bagman into a network of money transfer businesses in Melbourne and Sydney, which use an ancient transfer system known as hawala.
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which → believe → hawala
The entire system is based on trust and relationships between hawala dealers.
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system → base → dealers
If a customer sends money overseas, their local dealer contacts a partner in the desired country who then pays the recipient from their own pocket.
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who → send → pocket
No money is ever physically moved because recipients are paid by someone in their own country.
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recipients → move → country
The dealers keep a running tally and periodically settle up.
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dealers → keep → tally
Hawala has long been exploited by terrorist groups and organised crime because of the ability to instantly transfer significant sums of money without physically shifting a single cent.
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Hawala → exploit → cent
How far-reaching is this network?
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network → reach → ?
Law enforcement sources tie the Commission to a number of money transfer businesses, which are also known as hawala dealers.
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which → tie → dealers
They link the businesses to Hamad's syndicate through the bagman, who also worked as a hawala dealer.
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who → link → dealer
In Australia, hawala dealers must be licensed and abide by anti-money laundering laws, but the network Hamad used allegedly regularly left out key details, such as who was paying them to send money overseas.
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who → license → money
Authorities believe the Commission used the bagman's registered hawala business to send millions of dollars to Dubai, where Hamad was in hiding.
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Hamad → believe → hiding
One former federal law enforcement source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said hawala networks were vulnerable to being misused by criminals who use the system to funnel billions of dollars around the world.
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who → speak → world
The source said dealers were also known to have databases full of families, international students and gamblers to obscure who was receiving the money before it was delivered.
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it → say → money
"There was a place in Dubai that had people using encrypted [communications] and their job was to facilitate transfers around the world," the former law enforcement source said.
"
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source → be → world
How private ATMs are being used
Law enforcement sources have also identified private ATMs as a key money laundering method used by tobacco syndicates to obscure the source of their profits.
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sources → use → profits
The machines can be refilled an unlimited amount of times with privately-sourced cash, and authorities believe they were being used as mini-banks by cartels.
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they → refill → cartels
Hamad's bagman also allegedly played a key role for another major syndicate involved in Australia's illicit tobacco market: members of Queensland's notorious Al Dilami family.
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bagman → play → family
The family's name comes up in a 2023 Queensland police report, filed in court, which said there were "extensive" intelligence holdings linking some members of the clan to illicit tobacco.
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which → come → tobacco
It is alleged the bagman was spotted collecting cash from several Queensland tobacconists linked to some Al Dilami family members.
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bagman → allege → members
Bust unlikely to stem tide, sources say
The bagman has since been charged after being busted with millions of dollars in his hire car.
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bagman → stem → car
He pleaded guilty to dealing with the proceeds of crime but denied playing any active role, telling the judge through an Arabic translator it was his "first time" doing business interstate and that he believed the money in his car was from legal tobacco sales.
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money → plead → sales
He told the court his life had been threatened before fleeing his home country after he challenged the activities of local militias.
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he → tell → militias
"I came to Australia because of the fact that I am against illegal things," he said.
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he → come → things
…and 26 more, not listed.
The Aporia