By Lachlan Abbott
Four men and one boy connected to the Finks outlaw motorcycle gang were arrested in raids across Melbourne after a spate of shop firebombings since Christmas Day, as police say they have begun to turn the corner in tackling Victoria’s tobacco wars.
Detective Inspector Graham Banks from Victoria Police’s dedicated illicit tobacco taskforce announced the tactical Special Operations Group helped arrest a 41-year-old patched Finks bikie in Werribee the day prior after an investigation with the Australian Federal Police.
Banks said on Saturday that the arrests hurt an unnamed criminal syndicate driving the recent flare-up in the war over the illicit tobacco trade – which includes five recent firebombings in Moe, Altona, Sunshine, Croydon and Altona North.
He said that before this week’s arson attacks, there had been a lapse in offending as other gangs had “abated some of their behaviour” amid police scrutiny.
“We’re certainly seeming to turn the corner,” Banks said. “We’re gaining far more intelligence than we started off with three months ago.
“We’ve made significant arrests. But it’s not an issue that is going to stop overnight.”
A 30-year-old man, who police believe is also a patched Finks bikie, was also arrested in Templestowe. A third suspected patched bikie, a 32-year-old Albion man, was arrested in Melbourne’s west.
All were charged with multiple counts of criminal damage by fire and remanded in custody. The Albion man was also charged with one count of aggravated carjacking.
A fourth man, a 37-year-old man from Point Cook, was arrested and also charged with five counts of arson.
A 16-year-old from Yarraville was also arrested and interviewed for aggravated carjacking and two counts of arson but released pending further enquiries.
In what he described as a particularly concerning incident, Banks on Saturday alleged that two men with machetes approached two young women eating takeaway in their Mazda 2 at a Braybrook reserve on Friday morning, carjacking them and using their car in a ram-raid firebombing within hours.
The recent flurry of attacks started at a tobacco store on Lloyd Street in Moe and another tobacconist on Main Street in Croydon on Christmas Day.
On Tuesday, a cafe on Lobelia Drive in Altona North was targeted. The owner of the Wolf Cafe & Eatery, who was jailed for a separate tobacco tax dodging scheme in 2019, told The Age on Thursday that he “[doesn’t] know what is going on”.
On Friday, a tobacconist in Altona was burnt down in a brazen attack the day after it had already been firebombed. Police said a tobacco store in Sunshine was also targeted on Friday.
Banks said they found Molotov cocktails during Friday’s raids, suggesting to police that those arrested intended to carry out more attacks.
Victoria Police’s Taskforce Lunar, which was set up to tackle the eruption in violent crime between Melbourne underworld syndicates over illicit tobacco, currently has 28 active arson investigations.
One of the Middle Eastern organised crime syndicates involved is headed by ruthless kingpin Kazem “Kaz” Hamad, a 39-year-old career criminal who police believe has been running a major crime gang from Dubai and other overseas sanctuaries after being deported from Australia last year.
Banks said the AFP was tasked with working internationally to bring suspects to justice, but declined to say whether they had reached out to authorities overseas.
Tobacconists are typically targeted, but there have also been arson attacks on a Williamstown ice-cream shop and Docklands restaurants – including Karizma, which is owned by alleged underworld figure Fadi Haddara.
A police intelligence report describes the Haddara syndicate as one of the largest operators in the illicit tobacco market in Victoria, including importation and distribution.
Police say outlaw motorcycle gangs are also involved in the firebombings war, engaging young people, street gangs and other low-level criminals to carry out the arson attacks. The conflict also involves the physical placement of illicit tobacco into stores, demands for stores to sell the syndicate’s illicit product and to pay a “tax” each week to operate.
Detective Inspector Banks said Friday’s arrests were a testament to state and federal agencies actively targeting the organised crime syndicates behind the offending.
“Those involved have a complete lack of regard for the harm they are inflicting on the community, and we think it’s only a matter of time before someone is killed or seriously hurt in these reckless incidents,” Banks said.
Since October, the Viper Taskforce, the police unit established to tackle organised crime more broadly, has executed almost 70 warrants at tobacco stores across the state. More than $3 million worth of vapes, three million cigarettes, one tonne of loose-leaf tobacco and at least one kilogram of cocaine have been seized.
Anyone with information about these incidents or with further information about illicit tobacco is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential crime report at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au
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