Two shops torched in Meadow Heights and Campbellfield
A couple living in a room attached to a Meadow Heights milk bar ran for their lives as a Ford Ranger was smashed through the front of the shop and set on fire.
Police & Courts
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Two stores have been set ablaze overnight in Melbourne’s northern suburbs, with police probing whether they’re linked to the city’s ongoing tobacco war.
Emergency services responded to reports of a fire in Meadow Heights shortly before 1am on Wednesday, after two men were spotted ramming a Ford Ranger into a Magnolia Boulevard milk bar, near Melaleuca Drive.
The men doused the store with accelerant and set it on fire before fleeing the scene.
A couple who live in a property attached to the milk bar fled the building and escaped unharmed.
The ute was still jutting from the damaged building on Wednesday morning.
Roughly three hours later, in neighbouring suburb Campbellfield, a restaurant was set on fire.
The blaze gutted the building but firefighters were able to stop the flames from spreading to an adjoining car wash.
It is the second time the Al Marjan restaurant in Campbellfield has gone up in flames.
The Middle Eastern restaurant on the Hume Hwy was torched by arsonists in May after the front door was smashed and the business set alight.
A section of Sydney Road, between Barry Road and Fordson Road, has reopened to city-bound traffic after previously being closed due to the fire.
Detectives will be probing whether the owners or associates of both businesses have ties to the lucrative illicit tobacco market.
Lunar detectives — the taskforce dedicated to investigating organised crime syndicates and their involvement in illicit tobacco trade — have investigated roughly 115 fires believed to be linked to the smoke trade.
Anyone with any information or dashcam footage is urged to contact Crime Stoppers at 1800 333 000 or crimestoppers.com.au.
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