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Police hunting gangland killers find second burned-out car

Source: AAP

A second suspected getaway vehicle linked to the execution-style shooting of gangland figure Sam “The Punisher” Abdulrahim has been discovered torched.

The former Mongols bikie was walking with his girlfriend when he was gunned down in an apartment block’s underground car park in Preston, in Melbourne’s north, on Tuesday morning.

The 32-year-old from Thomastown, who had survived at least half a dozen assassination attempts and recently returned to Melbourne from overseas, died at the scene.

A Porsche SUV was found burnt out about four kilometres away at Reservoir an hour after the targeted attack.

Later on Wednesday, police confirmed they had found a grey Ford Ranger with a distinctive sticker of bull horns its canopy rear window in Western Avenue at Westmeadows. It had also been burned.

Both are thought to be linked to the brazen daylight shooting, with police calling for anyone who may have seen either car travelling through the area or with dash-cam footage to come forward.

Homicide Squad Detective Inspector Dean Thomas indicated investigators were working on the theory the ute was a second getaway vehicle.

“The offenders may have got into [it] after they’d burnt the Porsche,” he told Melbourne radio station Nova.

“We’re working on the belief that that is involved, given the timing and location.”

Thomas said he was concerned about retaliatory attacks but reassured the community there was no suggestion of any more violence.

Detectives are still piecing together how many people were involved in the ambush, sifting through CCTV.

Abdulrahim had survived multiple attempts on his life.

In May 2024, shots were fired at his Thomastown home, injuring the bikie-turned-boxer and in August the house was set alight.

He survived a shooting at Fawkner in June 2022.

He was jailed for more than three years in 2018 after killing a grandmother in a crash and was attacked with a rock while in prison.

Abdulrahim was released on parole in 2019 with time served. It was revoked six months later by the parole board when police feared he was the target of three firearm incidents.

In February 2024, arsonists targeted two Melbourne venues in the lead-up to a fight Abdulrahim was due to be in.

-AAP

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