A car has been blasted with bullets outside a smokes store that has been repeatedly targeted during a long-running illicit tobacco turf war.
Police are investigating the shooting outside Glenroy Convenience in Melbourne's outer northwest in the early hours of Monday.
Gunshots were fired at a BMW SUV parked at the side of the Belair Avenue business.
The store was closed at the time and there were no injuries.
Bullet holes were visible on the car's doors and along the business' brick wall.
The car's rear left window was also smashed.
The street remained cordoned off on Monday morning as detectives picked up bullet casings and searched for other evidence.
The business, formerly called Glenroy Cigarettes, has been subjected to repeated firebombings and a drive-by shooting over the past 18 months.
The brick side of the store's building was blackened after a car became engulfed in flames on September 25, 2024.
The business' black security doors were left with bullet marks after a drive-by shooting about two weeks earlier.
Three people were spotted pouring accelerant into a van outside the store before setting it alight in the early hours of August that year.
Its front sustained minor fire damage but firefighters contained the blaze from spreading further.
The shop and another nearby business weren't so lucky when torched in May 2024, with police later charging a 17-year-old boy with criminal damage by fire, theft of motor vehicle and possessing a prohibited weapon.
Conflict between rival groups fighting over the profits of illicit tobacco has rattled Victoria for two years, with more than 100 firebombings on tobacco shops and other buildings linked to the conflict.
A multi-agency taskforce to target rising levels of crime linked to illegal tobacco was unveiled by Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke earlier in October.
It is being led by the Australian Border Force and made up of representatives from federal, state and territory police agencies, as well as government departments.
A Victorian licensing scheme for stores to legally sell tobacco products opened in July but won't start being enforced until February 2026.
