Underworld ties not ruled out in suspicious blaze at Love Machine

Police are investigating whether a suspicious blaze at a notorious Melbourne nightclub is linked to a string of arson attacks involving organised crime gangs.

Police said officers were patrolling the area around Malvern Road and Chapel Street in Prahran just after 2am on Thursday when they were alerted to a fire raging through Love Machine nightclub.

Fire crews arrived at the scene within four minutes, and found the first floor fully ablaze. Three aerial appliances were also called in for assistance, but an FRV spokesman said all firefighting efforts were “external, due to the difficulty gaining access to the fire”.

The club was empty as flames engulfed the building. There were no reported injuries, but police believe the cause of the blaze is suspicious.

An arson chemist will determine the cause of the fire after it has been completely extinguished.

The club has been a magnet for serious violence for more than five years, and has been shut down since its forced closure for liquor licensing concerns in November last year.

Acting inspector Kim Bramwell said police had a number of leads, including images and CCTV of vehicles leaving the area.

“We have had a number of police interactions with the Love Machine [owners] over the last 12 months. Everything is on the table at the moment.”

She said there had also been some issues with organised crime.

She said the front roller door had been “slammed with some force” to gain entry to the property, but investigators hadn’t had a chance to enter the building to determine the cause yet.

Forty-five firefighters and 14 appliances worked to contain the fire throughout the early morning. The fire was deemed under control by 4.25am. A building surveyor from the Stonnington Council will assess the site later in the day.

Malvern Road remains closed to traffic and trams in both directions between Chapel Street and Surrey Road. Power and gas companies have been requested to cut off supplies.

The club is owned by Sterling Nightclubs Pty Ltd. A phone number associated with Sterling Nightclubs’ director Dhir Kakar is “currently not accepting phone calls”.

Several other businesses have been affected by the blaze, including a dental clinic that Bramwell said had been expecting patients on Thursday.

“They’re just devastated,” she said. “We are very lucky this occurred overnight, on a weeknight, rather than a weekend, especially Chapel Street being such a thriving entertainment precinct. We’re very lucky that there was no one there and there was no one hurt. That’s our saving grace at this moment.

“However, there could have been people there. There’s other businesses that could have been people there. So we’re very lucky.”

“We will get them [those responsible], we will find them, and we will identify them and get them through the justice system,” she said.

In August last year, a stray bullet narrowly missed Western Bulldogs player Jamarra Ugle-Hagan as he was entering a rideshare vehicle outside the club. He was cleared of any wrongdoing.

Months earlier, 30-year-old father Ruka Carlson was stabbed to death on Chapel Street after reportedly being chased from Love Machine, following an altercation involving a gun at the premises.

The venue is most infamous for a fatal drive-by shooting in 2019. In that incident, security guard Aaron Khalid Osmani, 37, and patron Richard Arow, 28, were killed when Jacob Elliott fired shots from a 32-calibre assault rifle into the crowd outside.

Elliott, 18, and Allan Fares, 22, were convicted of two counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder over the shooting.

Elliott is the estranged son of slain bikie figure Nabil Maghnie, whose murder remains unsolved.

Anyone with information about Thursday’s blaze is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

With Cameron Houston and Marta Pascual Juanola

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