In short:
Khalid Baker has fought to clear his name since being released in 2018 after being jailed for murder.
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Baker → fight → murder
Court documents allege that Baker has run illicit tobacco stores with Nazir Haddara, a member of one of the most prominent organised crime families in Australia.
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Baker → allege → Australia
Baker is not charged with any criminal offence and is believed to be overseas.
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Baker → charge → offence
A boxer once tipped to represent Australia at the Commonwealth Games, who has spent years fighting a controversial murder conviction, can be revealed as a suspected key player in Victoria's so-called tobacco wars.
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who → tip → wars
Court documents seen by the ABC allege that Khalid Baker, 39, has run multiple illicit tobacco stores with Nazir Haddara, a member of the notorious Haddara crime family.
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Baker → see → family
The Haddaras are one of the most prominent organised crime families in Australia suspected of running much of the illicit tobacco trade across Victoria.
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Haddaras → organise → Victoria
Nazir is a relation of patriarch Fadi Haddara, who was in mid-August sprayed with bullets in a failed hit in his Altona North driveway.
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who → spray → driveway
The Haddara syndicate has long been at odds with exiled tobacco kingpin Kazem Hamad, who cemented his grip over the black-market trade in Australia from the Middle East after being deported from the country in 2023 after serving prison time for drug trafficking.
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who → exile → trafficking
Hamad's group, known as the Commission, is widely regarded by authorities and underworld figures as having near-total control over the trade in Australia after more than 200 firebombings, extortions and kidnappings linked to Victoria's so-called tobacco wars.
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group → know → wars
Iraqi authorities say Hamad, who controlled his empire from the Middle East following his deportation, has been sentenced to life in prison for trafficking drugs in Iraq.
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who → say → Iraq
Alleged involvement in illegal tobacco
The ABC can reveal the Haddara family's close ties with Baker, who is suspected of running multiple illicit tobacco stores with Nazir Haddara.
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who → allege → Haddara
Nazir is facing charges over his alleged role as the ringleader of a $30 million syndicate.
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Nazir → face → syndicate
Baker is not charged with any criminal offence.
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Baker → charge → offence
But in sentencing a Haddara foot soldier for handling more than $140,000 worth of illegal tobacco, County Court Judge Kevin Doyle said Baker ran a "network" of black-market smoke shops with Nazir across metropolitan Melbourne and in regional areas.
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Baker → sentence → areas
Court documents show that one of those shops was American Confectionery and Tobacconist in Corio, a suburb of Geelong, which sold black market cigarettes for as little as $13 a pack.
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which → show → 13
Nazir, who is on bail, is charged with running the $30 million empire, for which he allegedly oversaw finances, cigarette stock levels and vape sales.
uncertain
he → charge → finances
Police arrested him in October 2024 as he tried to board a flight to Dubai as part of a major sting that included raids across Melbourne.
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that → arrest → Melbourne
He will return to court later this year.
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He → return → court
Baker cemented his close ties with Nazir following his release from prison, where Baker served 13 years for the 2005 murder of Albert Snowball at a Brunswick warehouse party.
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Baker → cement → party
Mr Snowball was pushed from a window amid a brawl inside the venue and died from his injuries in hospital two days later.
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Snowball → push → hospital
In the highly contested case, Baker's childhood friend, legally known as LM, had always maintained he was "100 per cent" responsible for Mr Snowball's death.
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he → contest → death
LM told investigators he was the last person to touch Mr Snowball when he pushed him away but did not see him go through the window.
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him → tell → window
Under hearsay evidence rules at the time, the jury in Baker's trial was barred from hearing LM's admission that he was the last person to touch Mr Snowball.
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he → bar → Snowball
Baker and LM were tried separately over Mr Snowball's murder.
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Baker → try → murder
LM, who can't be named because he was 17 years old at the time, was acquitted.
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he → name → time
Baker, convicted at 18 years old, was paroled in 2018.
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Baker → convict → 2018
In 2018, LM told the ABC that "it should have been me" who went to jail for Mr Snowball's death and not Baker.
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who → tell → death
Baker has spent the years since his conviction professing his innocence.
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Baker → spend → innocence
In 2022, he lost his most recent appeal to overturn his murder conviction.
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he → lose → conviction
Nazir attended the proceedings in support of Baker.
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Nazir → attend → Baker
The conviction has been criticised by advocates for its basis on what they described as "key discrepancies", such as conflicting witness accounts and the decision to forbid the jury in Baker's trial from hearing LM's version of events.
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they → criticise → events
Before his conviction, Baker was a regional boxing champion who was tipped to represent Australia at the Commonwealth Games.
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who → tip → Games
Following his release, both Baker and Nazir have long been prominent fixtures in Melbourne's fight scene.
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Baker → follow → scene
Nazir fights regularly, winning nine of his last professional bouts in Victoria and New South Wales.
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Nazir → fight → Victoria
Baker has won several bouts in Australia and in Thailand since his release.
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Baker → win → release
It is understood he is currently overseas.
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he → understand → ?
Baker has been contacted for comment.
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Baker → contact → comment
The Aporia