Hamad, described by Australian police as their “number one priority”, was said by investigators to have run a criminal organization responsible for arson and drug activity. His arrest took place after close cooperation between the secret services of both countries.
Iraqi authorities have detained a man who Australia considers a possible suspect in the anti-Semitic attack on a synagogue in Melbourne and other similar acts. This was reported by the Australian police on Wednesday, TASR writes, according to a Reuters report.
Priority number one
The detained person is Kázim Hamad. Australian Federal Police chief Krissy Barrett said the man posed a threat to national security and that she had made him her “number one priority”. He was previously convicted of drug offenses in Australia and deported to Iraq in 2023.
The man is being investigated as a suspect in a number of attacks in Australia, including arson attacks linked to the tobacco trade and also an allegedly politically motivated arson attack on the Adass Israel synagogue in Melbourne.
Iraqi authorities decided to detain Hamad independently as part of their own prosecution after Australian police provided them with information about the man late last year.
Barettová talks about a significant intervention against a serious criminal
“This arrest is a significant crackdown on an alleged serious criminal and his alleged criminal organization in Australia,” Barrett said in a statement.
In its report, Reuters recalled that Australia expelled Iran’s ambassador in August last year after its intelligence service traced the funding of the masked criminals who allegedly set fire to the synagogue in Melbourne in December 2024 to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
