1 month ago
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Another store has been gutted by fire overnight as Perth’s tobacco wars continue to escalate.
Ashtar WA in Huntingdale was destroyed by fire around 3am on Wednesday, with arson squad detectives arriving at the scene to investigate the suspicious blaze later in the morning.
Firefighters at the Huntingdale shop overnight. Credit: 9 News Perth
Several stores within the Huntingdale shopping centre on Pipit Close have been cordoned off, with power cut to the complex, including the nearby IGA, which has been forced to temporarily close its doors to customers.
Police are also investigating if a car of fire at the intersection of Swamp Road and Commercial Road in Forrestdale a short time later is linked to the suspected arson attack.
It’s the second time within six months the Ashtar WA shopfront has been targeted by arsonists.
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In August, offenders forced entry into the shop around 2am and set fire to the store.
It was part of a series of tobacco war-related attacks carried out within days of each other, with WA Police at the time labelling the crimes as “extortion, arson, drive by shootings are straight out of the playbook of organised crime”.
No one has been convicted since the first West Australian tobacco war-related incident in Midland in October 2024, however so far six arrests have been made, and those cases are progressing through the courts.
Most targeted stores reopen and continue to trade.
WA only has to look east to see how other states handled – and stamped out – similar crime.
While New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland have “shut-down” laws that allow for convenience stores found selling illicit tobacco products to be closed, WA lacks anything similar.
And while in Victoria, tough penalties of up to $1.7 million in fines and/or 15 years in jail are in store for people there now involved in the trade, WA’s fines are a fraction of that.
Adding to the challenge is the public’s apparent support of cheaper cigarettes and vapes.
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A 20 packet of legitimate cigarettes costs between $37 and $62 due to federal government policy that continues to increase the tobacco excise rate in a bid to get smokers to quit.
However, now illegally imported cigarettes are readily available throughout the city for as little as $15 a packet. Illegal vapes set smokers back more but last far longer.
The WA Department of Health’s latest annual report revealed smoking rates in the state had increase over the past two years to 12 per cent of the population.
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