Ritchies-IGA boss says illegal tobacco set to replace regular cigarettes within five years
The head of one of Australia’s biggest supermarket chains says illegal tobacco is on track to completely replace lawful cigarettes, while fuelling an organised crime boom in Melbourne.
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The head of one of Australia’s biggest supermarket chains has predicted the illicit tobacco sector will completely control the smoke trade within years.
Ritchies-IGA chief executive Fred Harrison told the Herald Sun his business had in recent years lost between 20 and 25 per cent of its tobacco sales annually.
Mr Harrison said unless authorities did more to tackle the criminal element, their power would continue to grow.
“The whole market’s moving to illicit now,” Mr Harrison said.
“It’ll be all illegal in the next five years if there’s not change. Imagine if this was any other product.”
Major legal retailers have for years been losing market share to the illegal operators.
They have used imported and homegrown product known as chop-chop to undercut the lawful retailers whose prices are made prohibitive to consumers by high taxes and cost of living pressures.
Mr Harrison said many in the community may not care for tobacco companies or retailers but the colossal profits of the outlaw sellers were strengthening organised crime.
The tobacco market has supercharged gangland conflict in Melbourne since the start of last year with arson emerging as the preferred tactic of choice for combatants.
Sources say torchings are increasingly being commissioned while there has been a corresponding drop in the rate of non-fatal shooting incidents.
One theory is that it is easier to find offenders willing to light fires.
Increased pressure from firearms prohibition orders has meant fewer criminals want to run the risk of carrying or providing guns to carry out shootings.
Smoke business operators have increasingly turned to stronger fortification amid ongoing warfare linked to exiled crime boss Kazem Hamad, who is directing a campaign to take over the state’s illicit tobacco sector.
One shop on Toorak Rd, Burwood, has been upgraded with steel bars across its front as the rate of arson and burglaries by youth offenders has intensified.
“It looks like downtown Detroit. You’ve got to ask the reason why. What businesses fortify themselves?” one observer said recently.
Most of the firebombings since March last year have been the result of friction in the illicit tobacco sector.
The growth of firebombings has continued in recent months as other disputes and the range of targets has expanded.
Rival Middle Eastern and Italian restaurants have also found themselves in the gun in recent months, damaged or destroyed in late night or early morning fires.
But not all eateries are linked to organised crime circles; some are torched purely to eliminate competing businesses, one industry source said.
It is also a cost-effective way to get the job done.
Stolen cars or utes are frequently backed into the shopfronts, damaging security roller doors or front windows, before an accelerant is hurled inside and set alight.
Jerry cans can be bought from hardware stores and service stations for as little as $12 and a few litres of petrol would set offenders back a similar amount.
Vehicles used in the firebombings are often nicked during aggravated burglaries at the hands of children, teenagers and young adults looking to make quick cash.
They can be paid as little as $500 for their services.
Those who recruit children to carry out arsons equip them with a set of step-by-step instructions on how to go about their assignment.
The cut and paste outline, sent via phone, includes advice on how to light the fire in a safe fashion.
Clearly a teenage boy accused of setting a Glenroy tobacconist on fire misread those instructions, suffering severe burns in the May 17 attack.
Two boys were this week arrested over the twin attacks in the northern suburb in a period of heightened tension within the industry.
Detective Inspector Graham Banks said it was, once again, lucky no one had been killed.
“One of the boys involved suffered serious burns, which we are consistently seeing occurring and it is only a matter of time before one of these offenders kill themselves, or an innocent member of the public,” he said on Thursday.
Police at last month’s parliamentary inquiry revealed 71 arson attacks had been linked to the tobacco turf war alone — which include the burning of cars, shops, restaurants and gyms.
That inquiry was held on April 29, with about a dozen fires damaging restaurants and smoke shops since.
Smoke shops in Epping, Ararat, Hadfield, Gladstone Park, Meadow Heights and Glenroy have all been torched since May 11.
Middle Eastern restaurant Al Marjan was suspiciously set alight on Tuesday morning days after the Chase eatery in Thomastown was set alight.
They followed blazes at Italian restaurants Negroni 888 on Mount Alexander Rd and the La Porchetta in Taylors Lakes, both in the early hours of May 1.
Detectives investigating the illicit tobacco trade alone have arrested 62 people while VIPER Taskforce crews have arrested more than 80 others
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