Victoria Police announced on Friday that Operation Phoenix would be expanded across Melbourne to target shootings and arson attacks, with the move set to take effect on Sunday evening. The announcement came from a statement released by the police department on Xinhua.
Operation Phoenix was launched in July to address extortion‑related arson, drive‑by shootings and crime‑as‑a‑service offending in the city’s northwest suburbs. Police said the drive has already led to more than 230 arrests, with a significant portion linked to organized crime and extortion. The current expansion will also introduce dedicated overnight patrols, proactive interception of known offenders, and saturation of high‑risk areas in the CBD as well as the southern and eastern suburbs.
The expanded effort will integrate resources from a separate police operation that has targeted aggravated burglaries and vehicle thefts, which has made more than 5,800 arrests since 2023. Police noted that the combination of these operations will help address the extensive network of organized criminal activity in the city.
Police added that the growth of these offenses is partly driven by the increasing exploitation of young offenders to carry out serious crimes on behalf of crime organisations. “Arson continues to be used as a tool to intimidate and influence control within organized criminal networks,” the department said in its statement.
