A tobacco store in Hadfi eld has been torched in a suspected arson attack just 24 hours after a nearby greengrocer went up in flames.
Detectives from the Arson and Explosives squad arrived to the West St Convenience Store on Wednesday morning to find the store damaged by fire.
It’s believed West Street Convenience Store is owned by the same people who own Hadfield Finest Fruit and Veg, which was targeted by fire a day before.
Emergency crews were called to the unoccupied shop just after 5am. No one was injured in the blaze.
Police say the inside of the shop suffered extensive damage.
The roller door also appeared to have been smashed open.
An employee at another greengrocer near the tobacco shop said he heard “three loud bangs” before rushing to the corner store to check it out.
“I was putting the capsicums out the front and I heard three loud bangs,” worker Bruno Lo Piccolo said.
“I just thought it was the garbage truck collecting the bins at that time of morning.
“I turned around and the shop was on fire.
“I went down to check it out and saw it was smoking up.”
Mr Lo Piccolo said he had no idea who was behind the string of attacks and doesn’t fear for his shop’s safety.
“There’s always some sort of occurrence but it’s nothing we’re not used to.”
It comes after police said the attack on Hadfi eld Finest Fruit and Veg on Tuesday was “likely linked” to a spate of arson attacks on tobacco shops dating back to March.
Emergency services were called to a car fire at the corner of East and Middle streets, which spread to the Hadfi eldFinest Fruit and Veg in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
A car was reversed through the front of the shop with an LPG tank in its boot.
The shop front sign was left charcoaled and blistered after the blaze burnt a large hole through the security roller doors.
Investigators are hunting a white Audi that was seen near the shop when the fire broke out, and are appealing for anyone who saw the burnt Volkswagen Jetta before it was set alight.
It follows a series of targeted fire attacks that ravaged homes, businesses and vehicles across Fawkner, Greenvale, Oakleigh, Fraser Rise, Caroline Springs, Maribyrnong, Collingwood and Port Melbourne in June and July.
Those arsons are believed to be linked to tensions between rival Middle Eastern Crime Gangs.
Detective Inspector Chris Murray from Victoria Police’s Arson and Explosives Squad said investigators were exploring the motives behind the blaze believed to be linked to the previous attacks.
“The Arson and Explosives Squad will be looking at all possible motives for this fire, and we have strong avenues of inquiry to identify the offenders,” he said.
“This is inherently dangerous behaviour and I want to assure the public that police will not tolerate such blatant and dangerous criminal conduct in our communities.”
In June, the Herald Sun revealed that a vape store linked to gangland identity Sam “The Punisher” Abdulrahim had been hit by three firebombing attacks in less than a month.
Another Moonee Ponds tobacconist was set alight on June 3 and a Weribbee tobacconist was torched on June 22.
Police have arrested several people, including four patched members of the Finks outlaw motorcycle gang, over the suspicious fires.
The operator of a torched Hadfield greengrocer lives just three doors from a businessman whose home and business was firebombed amid a string of targeted attacks in June.
The Herald Sun can reveal Khodar El-Hawli and Yassin El-Hawli are listed as the business directors of the store and live in the same Greenvale street as the directors of popular Collingwood grocer Sonsa Market.
Sonsa Market was deliberately set on fire on June 29, in an incident believed to be linked to 11 other arson attacks across Melbourne.
Sonsa Market’s director, Ali Gunes, lives at a sprawling Montrose Ct home where a car was also firebombed on June 25.
Police arrested Ali Gunes’ brother, Hasan Gunes, and a former bikie over a roadside brawl in Ravenhall on July 7,for which Mr Gunes was charged with reckless conduct endangering injury and affray.
The relationship between Khodar and Yassin is not yet clear.
Police are calling for witnesses or anyone with dashcam footage to contact Crime Stoppers.
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