Crime scene set up after suspicious fire engulfs Bentleigh business

Police are investigating whether a suspicious fire that engulfed a Bentleigh smoke shop in the early hours of Saturday is the latest firebombing in Melbourne’s tobacco wars.

A Bentleigh smoke shop has become the latest target in a spate of at least 20 arson attacks fuelled by Melbourne’s underworld turf war over control of the illicit tobacco trade.

Arsonists set Bentleigh Smoke Shop and Convenience Store alight before fleeing in what residents have described as “an attack waiting to happen” on Saturday morning.

The Centre Rd tobacconist had only set up shop in late July before coming to police attention when someone tried to set it alight for the first time in September.

It remained under surveillance by investigators who trained a police camera on the business in the wake of that first attempt before it was torched about 1.30am.

Nearby business owner James Oppedisano said the tobacco store narrowly avoided major damage when an alarm alerted two men to the blaze who rushed to extinguish it before police arrived.

The Bentleigh Smoke Shop Convenience Store on Centre Road Bentleigh that was damaged in a suspicious fire overnight. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

“(They) firebombed it, trying to set it on fire,” he said.

“My whole shop smelled like petrol.

“The police almost got them.

“It was pretty close.

“They’ve (police) been constantly patrolling the area… based on the fact (the attackers) keep coming back to finish the job.”

Mr Oppedisano said he was worried his shop could be damaged if the arsonists returned.

“We’re all expecting them back,” he said.

“The problem is… a lot of the time when they catch them the courts will let them back out, so we’re kind of frustrated about that.”

The attackers are believed to have driven into a nearby laneway with access to the back of the store before firebombing it.

No one was inside the shop when the fire broke out and inside the store did not appear to have sustained significant damage.

Store employees declined to comment on the attack.

Arson detectives are investigating whether the suspicious blaze is yet another in a series of tobacco shop fire bombings across Melbourne linked to organised crime syndicates.

This latest attack comes as the battle among bikies and Middle Eastern organised crime figures for control over the lucrative clandestine market intensifies.

Detectives are investigating whether career criminal Mohammed Keshtiar was shot dead in August due to his suspected connection to an illicit tobacco syndicate.

Police guard the rear laneway behind the Bentleigh Smoke Shop Convenience Store on Centre Road Bentleigh after a suspicious fire overnight. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

The arson squad and Victoria Police’s Viper task force are investigating links between more than 20 separate attacks on tobacconists, homes and businesses that were carried out since March this year, with an average of one attack occuring every week.

On June 10, a vape store on Young St in Moonee Ponds linked to gangland identity Sam “The Punisher” Abdulrahim was set on fire for the third time.

Meanwhile, Collingwood’s Sonsa Market owned by Ali Gunes was set alight and had its windows smashed in with hammers on June 29, a week after a brawl outside the shop was caught on CCTV.

There were two shop fires in a 24-hour period in Hadfield, when stores owned by Yassin El-Hawli and Khoder El-Hawli, Hadfield Finest Fruit and Veg and the nearby West Street Convenience Store, were firebombed.

Arsonists targeted the Station St Tobacconist in Oakleigh twice in September.

Tobacconists across Hoppers Crossing, Werribee, Springvale and Deer Park have been targeted in the series of attacks.

Investigations into the firebombings are ongoing.