Twelve people were arrested on March 17 as part of an investigation into alleged extortions of tobacco stores linked to a Middle Eastern organised crime syndicate. Video by Victoria Police
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00:00Police will allege that 10 persons were arrested in relation to extortion.
00:05We're doing so under a syndicate operation which is headed by a person who lives offshore,
00:10a person by the name of Kazim Hamad.
00:12This group has been operating for some time and causing significant harm to the community.
00:17Executed 14 search warrants across mainly the north-western parts of Melbourne,
00:24predominantly on residential properties but also on a storage facility.
00:3112 persons were arrested as a result of those search warrants.
00:3510 of those people were persons of interest to the task force and were going to be arrested when found.
00:41Two others were just incidental.
00:44There were significant items seized during the search warrants which included two high-powered rifles.
00:51They are semi-automatic in nature.
00:54They appear to have commercial-grade suppressors which, for all intents and purposes,
00:59make them relatively solid in operation, generally only used for illicit purposes.
01:05And a handgun, a shotgun of great concern, some commercial-grade explosives.
01:12There were also three vehicles seized.
01:15In one of the vehicles were a number of handwritten notes which are very similar in nature and content
01:21to other notes that have been handed to victims of extortions at illicit tobacco shops.
01:28There were also knives and GPS trackers as well as a significant quantity of cash,
01:34vapes and illicit or loose-leaf tobacco.
01:45.