Greek police have interviewed a former Sydney bikie boss who almost died when his car blew up outside a ritzy Athens gym.
Amad ‘Jay’ Malkoun’s pristine white Mercedes was engulfed in flames when he tried to start it in upmarket suburb on Friday at about 10am local time.
The 56-year-old father-of-three suffered burns to his hands, arms, and lower legs, which were operated on in hospital where he is still recovering.
Former Comanchero bikie president Amad Malkoun (pictured) was injured in a car explosion
He was moved from the ER to a ward room on Saturday where police interviewed him about the brazen attempt on his life.
Early investigations indicate that the assassination attempt was signed off in Australia, a Greek police source told 9 News.
Men believed to be associates of the former president of the Comancheros Victorian chapter stood guard outside his room along with police.
The attack took place out the front of the very same gym notorious Australian gangster John Macris worked out at before he was shot to death last November.
Detectives are investigating whether there is a link between the two targeted hits on known criminal identities, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
They are also liaising with Interpol and contacted Australian police seeking more information about Malkoun’s Sydney activities.
Local police and the bomb squad cordoned off the area surrounding the blast (pictured)
Malkoun lived in Dubai and Thailand since fleeing Australia and arriving in Greece, where he lives in a luxury penthouse apartment in the seaside suburb of Glyfada.
Neighbours said he was visited at the home where he lives with his wife and three children by numerous people driving luxury cars with foreign number plates.
They said he was an ‘attentive’ father often seen waiting with his children for the school bus and buying them chocolate and ice cream.
Mega Gym manager Yannis Levas said Malkoun was a ‘low profile’ gym goer who he didn’t recall speaking with Macris on the premises.
‘He just exercised. I remember his white AMG Mercedes, the one that burned. But he just worked out and left, really,’ he said.
The police bomb squad f residue of an explosive device, potentially dynamite, in front of Malkoun’s car.
Detectives are understood to have found dynamite residue out the front of the Mercedes
Three adjacent cars were also damaged in the explosion, though no other injuries were reported, according to local media.
Malkoun was only saved by a pair of passing young men, who opened the burning car door and dragged him out, reportedly conscious.
He was left with extensive burns to his legs and arms and his clothes were in tatters.
He was taken for immediate surgery at the Asklipieio General Hospital in Voula, south of the Greek capital, for serious burns.
Post-surgery, doctors said he was in a serious but stable condition.
Malkoun was saved by a pair of young men who opened the door of the burning car and dragged him out
Malkoun is a convicted heroin trafficker and headed the Victorian faction of the Comancheros from 2009 to 2013.
He then left Australia with his family before moving to Greece in 2017, reportedly living in ‘exile’.
The millionaire nightclub tycoon, who once dated PR maven Roxy Jacenko, was shot and killed outside his home in Voula last November.
Voula is only less than six kilometres from the gym where Malkoun’s car was blown up, and he is believed to have also frequented it.
The attack against Malkoun draws parallels to murdered gangsters Mahmoud Hawi (left) and John Macris (right of right)
A trio of gunmen allegedly attacked Macris in his car, with one overheard by neighbours shouting: ‘I’m going to finish him off.’
The 46-year-old was also in his car during the attack.
A police inquiry remains open into Macris’ murder, and authorities are yet to determine whether the two attacks were intertwined.
The attack also draws parallels to another against a former Comanchero boss – Mahmoud ‘Mick’ Hawi – who was shot and killed in 2018.
Hawi was shot at least six times in broad daylight while sitting in his own luxury car outside a Fitness First gym in Sydney, in February.
About six months later, two members of a rival gang known as the Lone Wolf motorcycle club were charged.
Detectives found traces of dynamite near the wreckage of the car and are now investigating
Police had speculated Malkoun had gotten caught up with a local gang war since his arrival in Greece.
However, he has no official police record in Greece.
Police are reviewing CCTV footage from the scene to attempt to determine who laid the explosive and how they made their getaway.
They are also working to clarify whether the explosion was triggered by the ignition of the car, or whether it was detonated remotely.