Tarek Zahed photo: Comancheros bikie sends chilling message to underworld after Sydney shooting

The president of Australia’s Comanchero bikie club delivered an unmistakable message when he shared photos of himself kissing the cheek of an underworld figure who narrowly survived an execution attempt.

Don’t dare come after Tarek ‘hard2kill’ Zahed again, because the club has his back.  

Comanchero boss Allan Meehan posted a selection of images of himself dining and drinking vodka with Zahed and heavily-tattooed associates at a Melbourne restaurant on Sunday. 

Zahed is the club’s national sergeant-at-arms who was shot 10 times – including through the eye – during a gym session in Prospect, western Sydney, in May

The pictures represented the first time Zahed, 41, had been seen in public since he was shot in the face in an attack that also claimed the life of his brother Omar, 39.

The pictures, which Meehan repeatedly posted to Instagram, represented a clear declaration of loyalty from Meehan – who wrote: ‘God bless the sarg’. 

But it shouldn’t come as a surprise, given the Comanchero gang has long been a tight-knit fringe group – detested by most in the underworld. 

‘The Comanchero have always been a group that have been on the fringe,’ said Dr Mick Kennedy, a lecturer in policing studies at the University of Western Sydney. 

‘No one really likes them.’

Dr Kennedy said the structure of bikie groups has changed over the past decade, with cohesion among members on the decline.

Despite the common perception members are loyal towards each other, Dr Kennedy said that value tends to only apply to not ratting one another other out.

‘The whole structure of bikie groups has changed over the past 10 years. They are more aligned.’

‘There used to be a lot of solidarity,’ he said. 

But these photos were certainly a message that the Comanchero do have his back. 

Doctors were astonished by Zahed’s rapid recovery, which saw him released from hospital less than two months after the shooting. 

Despite being being shot 10 times, there are no visible scars to the face of the bikie hard man. 

But a source said he has completely lost sight in his right eye, rendering him virtually blind as he already had reduced vision in his left eye. 

‘He had an incident years ago that means vision in his left eye is only 20 to 30 per cent,’ the source told the Daily Telegraph. 

‘So with him likely being blind in his right eye now, he will be almost completely unable to see.’

Since leaving hospital in July, it’s believed Zahed has been laying low in Melbourne. 

Homicide Squad Commander Detective Superintendent Danny Doherty said at the time police were investigating possible motives for the assassination attempt, refusing to rule out an inside job.

‘We can’t discount an internal conflict,’ he told reporters.

‘There is opportunities for people to take their place and there’s a real power struggle within organised crime organisations.’

A second line of inquiry is whether there is any connection to the shooting death of Mahmoud ‘Brownie’ Ahmad – another gangster who was shot and killed in April.

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb noted Zahed had a target on his back due to his senior role within underworld crime networks.

‘He’s a senior member of the Comancheros… Australia’s largest criminal organisation,’ she said.

A police source earlier confirmed the hit on Zahed was considered the ‘biggest of the year’ in the criminal world. 

‘Whoever has done this is game to go toe-to-toe with the Comancheros and nobody does that,’ they said.

Commissioner Webb noted Zahed was warned just a few days before the shooting about a legitimate threat to his life and was told to leave NSW as soon as possible.

‘He went about his usual business, his normal routine,’ she said.

Police allege the Comancheros are in bed with the Alameddine crime family and help to supply the network with mussel.