Speaker 1: Twenty venues around Melbourne have been attacked since February.
Speaker 2: The wave of firebombings at Melbourne hospitality venues. Police cracked
Speaker 2: down on the crime days fire bombing Melbourne's clubs and bars,
Speaker 2: setting up a new task force to end Melbourne's hospitality
Speaker 2: wars before someone's killed. It's a scary time right now
Speaker 2: if you're a hospitality owner or someone who frequents night
Speaker 2: spots around Melbourne.
Speaker 1: Right It's like we've thought twice about even like going
Speaker 1: out for a drink in some places recently. I'm like,
Speaker 1: I don't know, we go on to stay home.
Speaker 2: So police right now looking into who exactly is pulling
Speaker 2: the strings. It points to organized crime. All these arson
Speaker 2: attacks are spaded them the CBT South Melbourne Paran. Twelve
Speaker 2: arrests have been made so far, So what's happening out there?
Speaker 2: Christine Hearn from The Today Show has some exclusive details
Speaker 2: on all this morning.
Speaker 3: Chris, Good Morning, Morning guy.
Speaker 2: Now, am I right in suggesting this all revolves around
Speaker 2: activity on encrypted apps? Yeah?
Speaker 3: That's right. I mean I'll be going to a lot
Speaker 3: of these firebomb venues and talking to owners that didn't
Speaker 3: want to go on camera for obvious reasons, but they
Speaker 3: kind of told me the story behind it. They said
Speaker 3: that these kids go on the encrypted app signal and
Speaker 3: they described it to me. One owner described it to
Speaker 3: me as air tasker for criminals. So there's a list
Speaker 3: of jobs, say a job, you know, firebomb this venue.
Speaker 3: They accept the job, they go and do it. Then
Speaker 3: they have to video it and you'll see on some
Speaker 3: of the CCTV the criminals are filming it because that
Speaker 3: is how they get paid. It's their proof. Then they
Speaker 3: go back and get paid by the crime gang.
Speaker 4: That's crazy. So the gang members are pretty much using
Speaker 4: high and help young kids because they know if they
Speaker 4: don't want to get caught themselves, and b if juveniles
Speaker 4: get caught doing it, then they just get off pretty easy.
Speaker 3: Correct, said Pawned. And the other thing, one owner was
Speaker 3: telling me that when these kids, sixteen year old kids
Speaker 3: get caught and police they will tell us who paid
Speaker 3: you honestly say, I don't know because it's all anonymous
Speaker 3: on this app.
Speaker 1: Oh so Chris, is it safe for us to be
Speaker 1: going out at the moment?
Speaker 3: Well, I can only go what police say, and police
Speaker 3: they continue as normal. However, be vigilant and I have
Speaker 3: to say, to give you an example, police are on it,
Speaker 3: particularly if you're out in Paran Sathierra. Because we were
Speaker 3: using the Emerson as a bit of a backdrop yesterday,
Speaker 3: which has been the subject of a drive by shooting.
Speaker 3: Clinton doon't away you'd.
Speaker 1: Know it well.
Speaker 3: And basically we pulled up my cameraman there was a
Speaker 3: cop right onto him as soon as he pulled up.
Speaker 3: Then an unmarked cop pulled up and wanted to know
Speaker 3: what he was doing. And then when I pulled up
Speaker 3: as well, another unmarked cop did a slow drive by.
Speaker 1: But is this like in the early hours if you're
Speaker 1: doing it Today's Showcross or something. Is this at like
Speaker 1: five o'clock in the morning or.
Speaker 3: Is this in the middle of No, this is four
Speaker 3: point thirty to five o'clock in the morning, pulling up
Speaker 3: in front of a venue like the Emerson which has
Speaker 3: been targeted. Yeah, we had police on to a straightaway
Speaker 3: just wanting to know what we were doing while we
Speaker 3: were there.
Speaker 2: So Herna police are trying to get to the bottom
Speaker 2: of this. Why is this happening? Is it to do
Speaker 2: with some we've seen the tobacco wars erupt in Melbourne?
Speaker 2: Has this to do with some sort of bootleg grog.
Speaker 2: What is it?
Speaker 3: I can only go on what I've been told. So
Speaker 3: police is saying that they're unable to identify any motivation. However,
Speaker 3: and the owners that I've spoken to, they have told
Speaker 3: me that the reason they're being targeted they've got no demands.
Speaker 3: They've been taught, they said to me, they have received
Speaker 3: no demands from any kind of crime gang. However, one
Speaker 3: owner said to me that they believe the theory behind
Speaker 3: it is that this crime gang is sending a statement
Speaker 3: targeting these popular spots to send a statement to all
Speaker 3: venues in Melbourne that you better when the demands come,
Speaker 3: you better comply with us or else. And those demands
Speaker 3: are selling their bootleg alcohol, which like tobacco, does not
Speaker 3: have the Australian hack on it, which is more than half.
Speaker 3: If you're looking at a bottle of vodka, it's the
Speaker 3: tax is more than hard.
Speaker 4: Right, So you're talking booze that's illegally snuck into the country,
Speaker 4: not necessarily like made in Jimmy's backyard.
Speaker 3: Correct. I asked that, because I obviously we're all concerned
Speaker 3: about you know what happened exactly, and he said, no,
Speaker 3: it is first of all stolen two ways, and I
Speaker 3: can only tell you what these owners are telling me
Speaker 3: stolen alcohol or alcohol that has been smuggled into the
Speaker 3: country not getting the tap.
Speaker 1: Oh gosh, it's frightening is and it's also frightening that they're,
Speaker 1: you know, doing it when there's no customers in at
Speaker 1: the moment. But it's only amount of times in.
Speaker 2: The Emerson the night when those shots.
Speaker 1: Have many more details on that because the Emerson put
Speaker 1: out a statement saying it was Christine, do you know
Speaker 1: about that? They said it was it was a cap
Speaker 1: gun or something it was.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they put out a statement saying it was blanks,
Speaker 3: but I have not got that information.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 4: Mum always said nothing good happens after midnight, Christine, especially
Speaker 4: not two of them.
Speaker 1: Great, a lot of fun things happened, won't.
Speaker 4: You said to the cops when they failed you up?
Speaker 4: Just so you're just picking up Quinn.
Speaker 3: This is normal taxi service for.
Speaker 2: I'm doing house parties.
Speaker 4: Sees day Christina and from Channel Lines Today show. Thanks
Speaker 4: you for jumping on the sawning.
Speaker 3: Christ You're the best.
Speaker 4: Christine, see mate, it is just going twenty eight past six.
Speaker 4: It's good to be a cross if you are heading
Speaker 4: out around melbourne'll be aware of it's only warming up,
Speaker 4: all right. We're gonna check your round the work latest
Speaker 4: in years next here on over.
Speaker 2: Jason Lauren Lauren wake up feeling good.
Speaker 1: Follow them, I'm on the socials