Members of the Haddara clan are openly working with their former rival Kazem “Kaz” Hamad to squeeze out local operators in the tobacco trade as the exiled gangland boss cements his grip on the lucrative black market trade. A suspected member of the Haddara crime family has been arrested and charged by police after allegedly threatening the owner of a yet-to-open tobacco shop in the Bass Coast on behalf of Hamad’s poweful syndicate. The 52-year-old man from Tarneit, who owns a tobacco shop on the same road, allegedly visited the new store three times in June and July and told workers at the site that the business would be firebombed and its owner shot if the store opened. Police say that on July 5, four days after the alleged syndicate member delivered the third threat, the owner of the business received a phone call from an international WhatsApp number connected to Hamad threatening further violence against him.