Melbourne, Nov 6 — Police in the Australian state of Victoria said on Friday that a major operation targeting shootings and arson attacks in northwest Melbourne will be expanded across the city.
Victoria Police said that officers will conduct dedicated overnight patrols targeting serious and violent crime across metropolitan Melbourne from Sunday under Operation Phoenix.
The operation was launched in July to crack down on extortion-related arson attacks, drive-by shootings and crime-as-a-service offending in the city's northwest suburbs, Xinhua News Agency reported.
Police said that it has resulted in more than 230 arrests, with a significant portion directly linked to organized crime and extortion.
Under the expanded operation, officers will conduct proactive patrols, target known offenders and saturate high-risk areas in Melbourne's CBD as well as the southern and eastern suburbs.
It will incorporate resources from a separate operation targeting aggravated burglaries and vehicle thefts, which has made over 5,800 arrests since 2023.
In a statement, Victoria Police said it was concerned by the increasing exploitation of young offenders to carry out serious crimes on behalf of others.
"Police continue to see arson used as a tool to intimidate, influence and exert control, particularly among organized criminal networks," it said.
"While much of this offending is targeted in nature, Victoria Police remains concerned about the significant risks these incidents pose to the broader community."
On October 29, police said that a teenager who was critically injured in a drive-by shooting southeast of Brisbane has died in hospital.
The 19-year-old woman was taken to the hospital after she was shot in the neck and head by two masked men who opened fire on a crowd outside a boxing event about 28 km southeast of central Brisbane in the state of Queensland on Saturday night.
Queensland Police Service Detective Inspector Ian Galpin told reporters that she died in hospital and that the incident is now the subject of a homicide investigation.
He said that around 80 detectives were working on the case and had not ruled out gang involvement in the shooting.
Three men aged 27, 37 and 38 were also hospitalised with injuries sustained in the shooting, two of whom have since been discharged.