Sunshine North: Owner’s heartbreak as cops investigate suspicious kebab food truck explosion

Residents reported hearing a “huge” explosion before a food truck in Melbourne’s west went up in flames.

A popular kebab shop owner in Sunshine North has been left “devastated” as a suspicious fire destroyed his business on Wednesday night.

Emergency services were called to McIntyre Road just before 11pm when they found Juicy Kebab & HSP’s food truck engulfed in flames.

Brimbank crime investigation unit detectives said investigations were ongoing but at this stage it was being treated as suspicious.

“Officers arrived to discover the food truck engulfed in flames,” a police spokesman said.

“The fire also damaged a nearby power pole causing electrical outages in the surrounding area.”

Juicy Kebab & HSP owner Mohammad Nadeem said his initial reaction was relief that he had decided not to work that night, as his son had been injured earlier that day and taken to hospital.

“My wife was saying this was a positive thing, his injury was a sign from God,” he said.

“But now I’m not so sure, I’m worried it was targeted.”

Police are investigating the explosion of a kebab van at Sunshine overnight.

Mr Nadeem said he had only recently relocated the food truck after regulators received an overwhelming number of complaints from someone in the area.

“There was nothing to it, they were silly complaints. Someone was just not happy with me being there,” he said.

“I have no idea what happened, but now I’ve been left with nothing. I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

A Fire and Rescue Victoria spokesperson said firefighters brought the blaze under control in a matter of minutes, however neighbouring businesses suffered some damage.

“Arriving within four minutes, crews found the food van fully involved with some gas cylinders within it exploding,” they said.

“Thankfully there were no injuries.”

Nearby residents say they were shaken by the explosion.

“I saw three huge red fire explosions that went pretty high up,” one woman commented on social media.

“I heard it too, it was so scary and then the power went out,” another added.

Anyone who witnessed the incident or has information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.