{"id":683771,"date":"2026-05-20T21:13:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T21:13:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/683771\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T21:13:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T21:13:18","slug":"teenagers-arrested-for-alleged-arson-attacks-on-melbourne-nightclubs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/683771\/","title":{"rendered":"Teenagers arrested for alleged arson attacks on Melbourne nightclubs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three people have been arrested over a string of alleged arson attacks at Melbourne nightlife spots.<\/p>\n

Two 18-year-old men and a 17-year-old boy are accused of attacking three separate venues, including La Di Da nightclub in the CBD and Electric Bar in Prahran.<\/p>\n

Police allege the spree began at 4am on May 4, when a car rammed into roller doors at an industrial property before one male walked into the warehouse with a jerry can.<\/p>\n

About an hour and 20 minutes later, investigators say a car pulled up outside La Di Da before attempting to ram the door of the venue.<\/p>\n

Twenty minutes after this alleged ram raid, police say a car rammed into Electric Bar, before two males exited the vehicle and poured accelerant inside the venue.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Police say the accelerant failed to catch fire.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Police say Electric Bar was doused in petrol during the alleged attack, which failed to ignite. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

They allege the trio returned to La Di Da the following night of May 5, at about 3.30am, damaging the front door before pouring accelerant throughout the venue.<\/p>\n

Investigators say one of the 18-year-olds arrested today set himself on fire during the incident.<\/p>\n

An 18-year-old from Tarneit was arrested on Wednesday morning by officers, while the other 18-year-old and the 17-year-old were arrested at a shopping centre in Maribyrnong.<\/p>\n

Police say the 17-year-old was carrying a machete at the time of his arrest.<\/p>\n

All three are known to the police and are believed to be linked to a youth gang.<\/p>\n

They face charges including aggravated burglary, criminal damage by fire, handling stolen goods, committing an indictable offence while on bail and possession of cannabis.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Emergency services were called to a suspicious fire at La Di Da nightclub. (ABC News: Kate Meade)<\/p>\n

The arrests come as part of a broader investigation into arsons across Melbourne hospitality venues in recent months.<\/p>\n

A Victoria Police operation, dubbed Operation Eclipse<\/a>, was launched in April to address dozens of arson attempts at venues, which police believe were “likely linked”.<\/p>\n

At least 40 people have now been charged over the attacks, with police saying some offenders were paid as little as $500 in some cases to commit an arson attack.<\/p>\n

CBD Acting Superintendent Anthony Vella said police had now accounted for all the arson attacks in the city’s CBD in recent months.<\/p>\n

“Today’s results mean we have now arrested someone for every arson attack that has occurred against licensed venues in Melbourne’s CBD, as well as several incidents in the Prahran area,” he said.<\/p>\n

“If you are coming to a venue to commit arson, the chances of you getting caught by police are almost certain.”<\/p>\n

He said police were still searching for “about a dozen offenders” who were at large.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three people have been arrested over a string of alleged arson attacks at Melbourne nightlife spots. Two 18-year-old…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":683772,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[29621,48,329585,43,49090,329586,647,44,63082,41,39,42,40,9963],"class_list":["post-683771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-arson","tag-crime","tag-electric-bar","tag-headlines","tag-hospitality","tag-la-di-da","tag-melbourne","tag-news","tag-nightclub","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-youth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=683771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/683772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=683771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=683771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=683771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}