Police investigate possible serial arsonist links to fire which gutted new bayside tobacco store

Police are looking for clues to a possible serial arsonist after a bayside tobacco store was set alight, forcing the shop to close its doors less than a month after opening.

The back door of the gutted business, where windows were blackened by flames. Pictures: Judith Kerr

Security has been stepped up at a suburban tobacco store where police are investigating an arson attack and the possibility of a serial arsonist.

Fire broke out at the CT Tobacconist and Gift Shop in Crystal Waters Shopping Centre at Thornlands just after midnight on Monday (May 8).

Offenders entered a back lane before jemmying off a door handle at the back of the store to break into the shop, which opened at the centre on April 14.

The back door has been cordoned off by police as the investigation continues. Pictures: Judith Kerr

Neighbouring shop owners and businesses, including BWS, IGA and Uncle Bob’s Bakery, refused to comment after police spent two days scouring the area looking for traces of a serial arsonist.

The blaze follows last week’s announcement by the federal government that it would outlaw all vaping products.

Owners of the tobacco store were not taking calls and the shop remained cordoned off to the public on Wednesday and locked, with the glass windows blackened.

Police declared the site a crime scene, saying the inside was severely damaged with ceiling and other fittings melted in the blaze.

Police investigate the damage inside the Thornlands tobacconist.

Staff from neighbouring shops said security in the centre was being stepped up, with more CCTV cameras due to be installed.

“They only moved in a few months ago and before that this was a fairly quiet centre,” one staff member said.

“We do not keep cash on site and it was unexpected for anyone to break in here.”

A number of items were stolen, including cigarettes and computer hard drives.

Nobody was injured in the incident and the owners were not on site at the time of the raid.

It follows a string of break-ins at tobacconists across the southeast, including one on Old Cleveland Rd at Capalaba last month and one at Wynnum on April 20.

CCTV footage of the Wynnum incident showed two men entering the Florence St business carrying a handgun and a machete before making off with bags of tobacco and cigarettes.