As Peterborough police investigate two arson incidents at local vape shops early Thursday morning (February 5), the owner of one of the shops has issued an open letter indicating they are not isolated incidents and calling for government action.
According to a police media release, the two arson incidents at two vape shops on Lansdowne Street West happened “minutes apart” between 3:30 and 4 a.m. on Thursday.
“In each case the front window of the business was smashed, and a gasoline can was found outside the business,” say police, adding that no one was injured in either fire.
On Friday morning, Shai Bekman — who owns DashVapes in Mapleridge Plaza at 1840 Lansdowne Street West — posted security footage of the arson incident on Facebook along with an open letter “on violence against legal vape stores.”
The video shows a person smashing a covered storefront window and entering the shop with a gasoline container. After dousing a counter and the floor with gas, the person exits through the broken window and then throws a lit object inside the shop, which then bursts into flames.
“In the last three months alone, there have been five violent attacks on legitimate vape stores in the Peterborough area, including arson and firebombing,” Bekman writes. “These are not isolated incidents. They are not accidents. They are part of a growing pattern that anyone paying attention can see.”
VIDEO: Arson incident at DashVapes in Peterborough
According to Bekman, the black market in vape products is expanding while legal vape retailers face “excessive excise taxes” and are required to fully cover storefront windows, which “remove visibility and natural surveillance” and make “legal stores easier targets for crime.”
“When legal businesses are squeezed, and the black market is allowed to grow, violence is a predictable outcome,” Bekman writes.
He refers to what has happened in Australia, where high taxes have resulted in a $4 billion illicit tobacco market, attracting organized crime and violence including arson and extortion. Successive federal governments in Australia have boosted taxes on cigarettes, with the average price of a pack of 20 cigarettes now around $40 — the most expensive in the world by far.
A report released last November by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission and the Australian Institute of Criminology found that the illegal tobacco trade had resulted in a “significant increase in violence.”
The report attributes the violence to territorial disputes among organized crime syndicates that have resulted in murders, kidnappings, assaults, robberies and extortion of stores that refuse to sell illegal products. The report states that more than 200 arson attacks involving attacks by gangs were recorded in 2023 and 2024.
“What we are now seeing in Ontario looks disturbingly familiar,” Bekman writes.
“I urge policymakers and enforcement agencies to act before another store is burned, another worker is traumatized, or something far worse happens,” Bekman adds.
Bekman is calling for government to recognize the role of excessive taxation in fuelling the illicit market, to re-evaluate storefront visibility rules that compromise safety, to focus enforcement efforts on illegal manufacturers and sellers, and to consult with legal retailers on the issue.
As for Thursday’s arson incidents, police are asking anyone with information to call the Peterborough police crime line at 705-876-1122 ext. 555. To remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or submit a tip online at stopcrimehere.ca.
