00:01Here at the La Di Da nightclub on the corner of Little Bourke Street and King Street in Melbourne's CBD
00:08is where the latest arson attack has occurred.
00:12In a string of arson attacks on hospitality venues across Melbourne in recent weeks,
00:19police say at 3.30am this morning emergency services were called to this nightclub
00:25to find multiple entrances smashed in and the place firebombed.
00:30Police say luckily no one was inside, it would have been terrible if there had been.
00:35But there's a large police cordon here this morning that's being treated as suspicious and police are investigating.
00:44My ABC colleague who was here earlier this morning at the scene spoke to the nightclub's security guard
00:51who said his boss was tipped off a few weeks ago, that La Di Da could be next on the
00:57list of venues to be hit.
00:59Now we don't know exactly what form that tip off came in but it apparently wasn't via a text message.
01:06But the venue was expecting some kind of trouble and that has come to fruition this morning.
01:12Unsurprisingly that security guard also told us he'd like to move on from this job and find a new one.
01:18Police have said detectives from the newly set up task force Operation Eclipse are reviewing this case
01:25to determine if it is linked to the current series of incidents targeting licensed premises across inner metropolitan Melbourne.
01:33This Operation Eclipse was established last month to target a range of serious organised crime syndicate controlled hits
01:43on various different hospitality venues and police are looking into the motive for these attacks.
01:50But from what we understand so far the motivation is heavily to do with the rise of illicit alcohol which
01:57has been taking off.
02:00The bootleg liquor is increasing in supply and organised crime groups are pulling the strings behind this.
02:09Police say they're investigating what's happened here this morning at La Di Da and are appealing for dash cam footage
02:16or security camera footage from nearby businesses to be able to piece together exactly who's been involved.
02:22Police say it's connected to the flat right side before this we are obviously trained in clinic because that we
02:24have a fully installed
02:25You
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