A brazen double ram raid has terrorised Melbourne’s west, with offenders allegedly smashing into two suburban businesses before setting them alight in a fast-moving early-morning crime spree.
Just after 2am on Tuesday 25 August 2026, a vehicle was allegedly reversed into the Ginifer convenience store at 1 Willaton Street, St Albans, ripping into the shopfront before the premises was set on fire.
The store, which is known for selling vapes, suffered smoke and fire damage as witnesses watched two vehicles arrive and leave together in convoy. Staff at the nearby railway station called Triple Zero Victoria and raised the alarm and Fire Rescue Victoria were on scene in minutes.
Then, about 10 minutes later, the same group is believed to have struck again, this time at a milk bar at 30 Maplewood Drive, Kings Park 3021.
A black Toyota Kluger was allegedly driven in reverse through the milk bar’s front entrance, leaving the business with significant structural damage.Police have been told the offenders entered the damaged store, doused the area with an accelerant and ignited it. Witnesses described an explosion of flames before the fire began to peter out. The Kluger, allegedly stolen from Kings Park on Sunday and displaying stolen number plates, was left abandoned amid the damage at the milk bar.
The offenders are believed to have escaped in a second vehicle, described as a light-coloured 4WD.
The Toorak Times deployed our chief crime reporter and world famous photographer Lord Murray Schoorman who attended both scenes as forensic investigators commenced their work.Detectives from Brimbank Crime Investigation Unit are now investigating whether the two attacks are linked and whether they form part of a wider pattern of recent suspicious fires.
The Ginifer railway station had CCTV cameras across the road from the vape and tobacco convenience shop so there is no doubt that footage will form part of the Police investigation. At the other scene it was noted that the milk bar and adjoining driveway was rigged with several CCTV cameras on each corner of the building.
At the Kings Park milk bar, a man known as Ibrahim Hussein told gathered media he and his associates did not want to appear “in the news”, saying they were scared. Hussein and the group were spoken to by police investigators. It remains unclear how they are connected to the milk bar business.
