As reports of tobacconist fire bombings, extortion and threats make headlines in newspapers and on television screens across the country, one Logan business-owner is speaking up about the true cost of the ‘tobacco wars’.
Browns Plain’s Protea Delights, a family-run South African grocery store, has been damaged during three separate attacks targeting its tobacconist neighbours in the last two years.
The latest being last week on 26 August.
Media attention following each of the attacks predominantly focused on the tobacco store, during one of which two people were injured. But quietly, the incidents have left the owners of Protea Delights about $40,000 worse off, without income, two employees short, and struggling to find insurance.
“We’e still busy picking up the pieces from the last time,” store owner Estie Dercksen said.
“ We’ve lost income for eight weeks – so the $40,000 does not even include the income loss.
“We reopened… five weeks ago [almost] to the day.”
Ms Dercksen said the business would likely not make an insurance claim following last week’s attack.
“Our last insurance claim has not even been finalised and we’ve already got to do another one.
“We already had four companies refuse to provide cover because of the tobacconist. The one that did agree to insure us, we are now having to fork out almost $8000 a year – we used to pay just under $2400.”
The day of the fire, at about 3am, police said they believed three offenders arrived in two cars, set the tobacconist on fire, and left in a dark-coloured hatchback in an unknown direction.
Paramedics said no patients were reported at the scene. Ms Dercksen said her business, two doors down, suffered only minor smoke damage.
The same tobacconist was set alight in May this year, “severely” burning two men inside.
At the time, Protea Delights was the adjacent business and was completely destroyed.
Following a frantic search for a new location, Ms Dercksen’s business moved in two units down and reopened in July.
“We tried to move elsewhere but nothing else was available. Eight out of 10 real estate agents will not reply to a text or email.”
But that wasn’t the first attack. In January last year, Protea Delights was rammed by a car during the night.
That cost about $20,000 in repairs.
In the last year, local police have investigated similar attacks at tobacconists in Daisy Hill, Jimboomba, Acacia Ridge, and Mount Isa.
Taskforce Masher, created last year to investigate attacks on tobacconists, have been involved in several local incidents.
Protea Delights, in a statement online, demanded the authorities act to stop tobacconist “turf wars”.
“Enough is enough,” the statement read.
“We will not be bullied out of business.”
On the bright side, Ms Dercksen said, the community support had been “amazing”.
“We’ve had online orders coming through from New South Wales and from Western Australia, from people saying, ‘We’re not in your area, but we want to support you, we want to see you pull through’.”
Protea Delights remains open.
