Arsonists are targeting Melbourne restaurants and hospitality venues. No one seems to know why

Fire damage is seen at the Soho Restaurant and Bar in Melbourne. The Southbank bar is one of eight venues targeted by arsonists across Melbourne. Photograph: Jay Kogler/AAP

The orders come from people they have never met: firebomb this particular address, and you’ll get paid a few hundred dollars.

There have been almost 300 tobacconists hit in Victoria since late 2023, but there are now different types of businesses that have been targeted in the past fortnight: nightclubs, restaurants and bars.

At least eight such businesses have been targeted since 14 April, the most recent of which was the well-known South Yarra restaurant France-Soir on Thursday morning. According to police, officers were called to the scene when jerry cans were allegedly spotted inside a vehicle stopped near the restaurant.

Police also suspect two kidnappings and a factory fire at an alcohol distribution centre in Melbourne’s outer south-east are connected to the hospitality attacks.

Det Ins Chris Murray, the officer in charge of Victoria’s arson and explosive squad, urged those heading out in Melbourne to remain vigilant for their own safety, but also to detect possible offenders.

Murray says police were unclear on why the businesses were being targeted.

There were no obvious links between the venues, though some had shared ownership.

“Each and every owner who’s been subject to an arson attack and attempted arson state they haven’t been extorted, which is puzzling,” Murray told the ABC on Friday.

“The motive is unclear and we’re trying to understand what that motive is, but the owners have been very cooperative and say they haven’t been threatened.”

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He says the suspected arsonists did not have clear links to crime gangs, but were instead recruited through an underworld gig economy.

“What we generally see is this: individuals are responding to what the equivalent would be of Airtasker, being Crimetasker,” Murray told the media last week.

“They go and get paid to do a task that’s offered by someone. Get paid a few hundred dollars.

“Often they don’t even know who they’re working for. That’s the business model that we see. So they’re being used.”

He also said the use of arson had become more common across Melbourne.

No clear links to illicit tobacco trade’s firebombings

Murray said there were no clear links to suspected illegal tobacco kingpin Kaz Hamad and his crew, who are suspected of sparking many of the arson attacks on tobacconists.

“What we suspect is that these jobs are being tasked out, to anyone, and probably the one common denominator is there is someone sitting above who is pulling the strings,” Murray said.

“They’re the ones we’re interested in. These young kids are being used as cannon fodder for a few hundred dollars.

“And when they do go to prison, I can tell you now they’re not getting phone calls from the people who have put them up [to it], they’ll be left to their own devices.”

The youngest of four offenders charged in relation to the recent incidents was 16, and Murray said young men seemed most often to be those who were recruited.

According to court records relating to previous arson attacks on tobacconists committed by young men, many have extensive prior criminal histories including as youth offenders, issues with substance abuse, and histories of poor engagement with education, including because of undiagnosed mental illness or disability.

One young man jailed in November last year for arson was directed to perform the offences – and in some cases to film the aftermath – by people on the encrypted messaging app Signal.

Those pulling the strings went by names including “Scarface” and “Sinatra”.

There are few barriers to entry for arson – generally all that is needed is a stolen car, fuel and a light.

It is also considered lower-risk than other favoured methods for stand-over, intimidating rivals or perceived threats, such as drive-by shootings or kidnappings.

Aside from tobacconists, and the recent spate of hospitality businesses, there’s also been at least seven ice-creameries attacked since 2022.

But the escalating use of arson as an underworld tactic is not without danger: a man died last year after suffering burns when he set a Prahran juice and dessert bar alight.

“Let me be very clear: those people who are paying others an absolute pittance to light these fires have zero concern for their safety,” Murray said earlier this year.

“They do not care one single bit.

“Your life is worth more than a couple of hundred dollars.”