“We believe that these people were recruited by organised criminal networks, and they freelance for organised criminal networks to do these acts,” Detective Superintendent Gordon Arbinja told a press conference on Thursday afternoon.
Police are appealing to the public for help locating a man who they allege is linked to both the Marrickville attacks and another firebombing on the Central Coast last year.
In the early hours of August 9, 2024, a fire was allegedly lit at a tobacconist on Memorial Avenue at Ettalong Beach.
The substantial blaze “totally destroyed” the building, said NSW Fire and Rescue Superintendent Adam Dewberry, with crews working on the blaze from 1.44am until it was extinguished about 4am.
“We believe that the tobacconist was targeted to eliminate competition,” Arbinja said, adding that police “suspect the tobacconist did provide illicit tobacco”.
The man in question is of Mediterranean or Middle Eastern appearance with black curly shoulder-length hair and glasses, with a medium build and about 185cm tall.
Police released an image of the man from a Central Coast service station around the time of the Ettalong arson, where he was seen driving a grey Toyota Hilux.
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