The owner of an ebike store that was destroyed in an arson attack has urged the Victorian government to do more to end the state’s tobacco wars.
Cargocycles, in Brunswick East, which was severely damaged in a ram raid attack on Tuesday morning.
Victoria Police said a luxury BMW was driven through the front garage door of the business about 2:55am and the premises was then set alight.
A person was seen running from the scene with their arm on fire.
Police believe the intended target of the attack was a gym which sits above the bike store in Lygon Street.
Cargocycles in Brunswick East was severely damaged by fire on Tuesday morning. (ABC News)
The gym is linked to ex-Mongols bikie Sam Abdulrahim — also known as “the punisher” — who has been the target of multiple assassination attempts.
The gym only moved into the space above the bike shop earlier this year after its former premises was firebombed in October 2023.
An underworld source has told the ABC the incident is part of tit-for-tat arson attacks as competing criminal groups attempt to seize control of the illegal tobacco market.
Victoria Police said the incident is being looked into by its Lunar task force, which is investigating Victoria’s illegal tobacco wars.
Bike shop severely damaged in blaze
Gary Cookson, who owns Cargocycles, described the damage to his business caused by the early morning fire as “horrendous”.
“To get that call at three in the morning from the alarm company and race down there to find 10 fire engines in the streets, it’s got to be one of the worst nights of my life,” he told ABC Radio Melbourne.
“The fire crew were dragging burning bikes out into the street.
“The shop which is the main showroom is completely destroyed and there’s structural damage to the building.”
A BMW was driven through the garage doors of the bike shop before it was set alight. (ABC News)
Mr Cookson said there were security measures in place at the bike shop, but they were ineffective against a ram raid.
“Clearly they weren’t there to steal anything, driving a luxury BMW (into the shop),” he said.
“Everything that was in the shop is either burned or completely destroyed with water and smoke damage.”
Mr Cookson said he had to arrange an emergency disposal of lithium batteries from the ebikes after one of them caught fire after being removed from the premises hours after the attack.
The owner of Cargocycles says he will have to operate the business out of a temporary space after his shop was damaged. (ABC News)
He said he will meet with his insurance company and start looking for a temporary site for his shop.
“Our priority is to keep trading. We’re a small family business, we’ve got eight staff, they’ve all got families. We need to try and get something set up.”
Mr Cookson urged the Victorian government to do more to end the state’s tobacco wars to stop more businesses like his from being put at risk.
“They need to sort out something about the price of tobacco. It’s clearly not working,” he said.
“They’ve got to do something to take away this black market.”
