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Residents in an apartment building in Melbourne\u2019s northern suburbs were evacuated overnight after arsonists firebombed another tobacco shop in the early hours of the morning.<\/p>\n
Police say the attackers rammed the roller door of the shop on Wheatsheaf Road in Glenroy with a black BMW before setting the business ablaze and fleeing the scene about 2.30am.<\/p>\n
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Police say a black BMW rammed the roller door of a Glenroy tobacco shop on Wheatsheaf Road at 2.30am on Monday morning before setting the business ablaze and fleeing the scene.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Nine News<\/cite><\/p>\n Officers later found a BMW fully engulfed by flames on Shaftsbury Street in Coburg. They are investigating whether both incidents are linked.<\/p>\n The shop is the second tobacconist to be targeted in recent days, after arsonists attempted to torch a cigarette shop and convenience store in Bentleigh in the early hours of Saturday morning.<\/p>\n It was the second time the Centre Road shop had been targeted in the span of three weeks. The first attack was on September 23.<\/p>\n A CCTV camera had been set up at the front of the store in the days before Saturday\u2019s suspicious fire.<\/p>\n Sam Mullavey, who lives near the Bentleigh shop, said there was a heightened police presence in the area in the hours before the latest arson attempt.<\/p>\n \u201cWe came home and there were three police cars within five minutes that kept driving back and forth,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a bit weird because it\u2019s usually a pretty quiet street.\u201d<\/p>\n Police are investigating whether the Bentleigh attack is connected to a turf war between organised crime groups vying for control of the lucrative illicit tobacco trade that has been linked to several firebombings and shootings.<\/p>\n In August, this masthead revealed at least a dozen tobacco shops across Melbourne had been torched in a spate of arson attacks as organised crime groups extorted them, forcing small businesses to sell illegal tobacco the gangs supplied.<\/p>\n The trade is estimated to be worth millions \u2013 even tens of millions \u2013 of dollars each year to the racketeers.<\/p>\n Investigators are also probing whether the violence could be behind the daylight execution of Craigieburn man Robert Issa in front of horrified onlookers in the carpark of a local shopping centre on Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n A home in Excelsior Heights, Craigieburn, linked to Issa had been previously targeted in a drive-by shooting in September. A couple in their 50s sleeping inside the home were lucky to escape injury during the attack, which caused extensive damage to the facade of the property.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n