<description>&lt;p&gt;Kazem Hamad rose rapidly to become one of the nation&amp;rsquo;s most powerful organised crime players. The syndicate he is accused of heading waged a relentless turf war for control of Australia&amp;rsquo;s multibillion-dollar illicit tobacco trade, which has seen firebombings around the country. But Hamad&amp;rsquo;s arrest last week was unexpected, because it happened not in Australia, but thousands of kilometres away in Iraq. Today, senior reporter Chris Vedelago on the capture of one of Australia&amp;rsquo;s most wanted accused criminals.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://subscribe.smh.com.au/" rel="payment"&gt;Subscribe to The Age &amp; SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;See &lt;a href="https://omnystudio.com/listener"&gt;omnystudio.com/listener&lt;/a&gt; for privacy information.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

The Morning Edition

The Age and Sydney Morning Herald

The rise and fall of one of Australia’s most powerful criminals

JAN 19, 202618 MIN
The Morning Edition

The rise and fall of one of Australia’s most powerful criminals

JAN 19, 202618 MIN

Description

Kazem Hamad rose rapidly to become one of the nation’s most powerful organised crime players. The syndicate he is accused of heading waged a relentless turf war for control of Australia’s multibillion-dollar illicit tobacco trade, which has seen firebombings around the country. But Hamad’s arrest last week was unexpected, because it happened not in Australia, but thousands of kilometres away in Iraq. Today, senior reporter Chris Vedelago on the capture of one of Australia’s most wanted accused criminals.Subscribe to The Age & SMH: https://subscribe.smh.com.au/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.