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Marta Pascual Juanola

Marta Pascual Juanola

Marta Pascual Juanola is a crime reporter at The Age.

The club was engulfed in flames just after 2am on Thursday.

After a decade of violence, Melbourne’s most notorious nightclub may have met a fiery end

Melbourne nightclub Love Machine, renowned for its history of violence, has been gutted by what police suspect was a deliberately lit fire.

  • Isabel McMillan, Cameron Houston and Marta Pascual Juanola

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An image of Kazem Hamad in custody in Iraq.

Younger, more violent and elusive: A picture of Australia’s new organised criminals

Organised crime is becoming faster, more sophisticated and looking for new recruits, according to Australia’s criminal intelligence agency.

  • Marta Pascual Juanola
After falling for decades, the smoking rate is now rising, experts fear.

Australia’s smoking rates fell for decades. But that’s changed – and here’s why

Early evidence suggests the flood of cheap cigarettes could have pushed Australia’s smoking rates up for the first time since the 1990s.

  • Marta Pascual Juanola
Rising taxes on tobacco over several years created a black market that became so lucrative that transnational crime gangs battled for control of it. One is led by Kazem “Kaz” Hamad.

‘We handed over billions to organised crime’: How official neglect and incompetence fuelled the tobacco war

Despite repeated warnings that rising tobacco taxes would hand a fortune to organised crime, governments watched a multibillion-dollar black market explode.

  • Chris Vedelago and Marta Pascual Juanola
William Swale at the Coroners Court.

Diabetic driver who killed five felt ‘hazy’ before Daylesford crash: inquest

After being ordered to give evidence, William Swale broke his silence at an inquest into the 2023 tragedy that left five people dead.

  • Marta Pascual Juanola
Aidan Becker.

Fatal attack at train station ‘heartbreakingly predictable’, says mother of past victim

Police have charged a fourth teen with murdering Aidan Becker. His death has rekindled memories for another parent, whose son was twice held at knifepoint at the same spot last year.

  • Isabel McMillan, Marta Pascual Juanola and Alexander Darling
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In February, Victoria Police officers took part in a counter-terrorism exercise at a shopping centre designed to train uniformed police on how to respond to armed offender incidents.

Gunshots, machetes and KFC: How police are preparing for Australia’s terror threats

A Melbourne shopping centre was overrun with three terrifying scenarios late one night, played out to train officers on how best to respond to call-outs about armed offenders.

  • Marta Pascual Juanola
Aidan Becker.

Good Samaritan killed at train station remembered as hero with a kind soul

Aidan Becker was killed while intervening as a group allegedly tried to rob a schoolboy, police say. His friends remembered him as kind and optimistic.

  • Angus Delaney and Marta Pascual Juanola
Melbourne’s tobacco wars are reigniting.

‘They’re getting sent a message’: Tobacco war reignites as Kaz Hamad’s ‘Commission’ fights to retain control

There have been more than a dozen arson attacks and two shootings related to illicit tobacco markets since Hamad was arrested in Iraq in mid-January.

  • Chris Vedelago and Marta Pascual Juanola
Sutasinee McGuigan (centre) and husband Patrick McGuigan.

Revolver bookkeeper accused of fleecing nightclub out of almost $4.5m

Sutasinee McGuigan is accused of funnelling the funds from two accounts linked to the famed nightclub into bank accounts owned by her and members of her family.

  • Cameron Houston and Marta Pascual Juanola