Last week, a duty court in Alicante sentenced a 33-year-old Algerian man arrested by the National Police for lighting a fire in a residence when four people were inside.
The now-incarcerated guy, suspected of arson and property destruction, had been living in the house and was evicted for failing to pay the rent for the room he had rented, so he allegedly acted to exact revenge.
The inquiry was launched by agents from the Alicante Provincial Brigade of Judicial Police’s Violent Crime Unit (UDEV) following an arson assault on a building in the Juan XXIII Second Sector neighbourhood.
Arson
The arson occurred on 23rd January, about 11:30 a.m., in a structure near the San Juan de la Cruz passage. Officers from the Motorcycle Group of the Prevention and Reaction Unit (UPR) – known as “Los Rayos” – recognised a man they spotted leaving the passage carrying three mobile phones a few minutes before the alarm was sounded.
While the police were conversing with this guy, who couldn’t explain the legal origin of the mobile phones and was eventually identified as the arsonist, numerous neighbours came out to warn them about a fire in a basement flat. To avoid injuries from the fire, the officers promptly moved to evacuate the inhabitants, and the individual they were identifying fled the scene.
Firefighters arrived on location and extinguished the fire. According to municipal sources, the fire started in a bedroom mattress and caused significant damage due to flames, heat, and smoke. Twelve firefighters and three vehicles from the Alicante Fire Prevention, Extinction, and Rescue Service (SPEIS) helped to extinguish the fire.
Pregnant tenant
The National Police talked to the four people who were inside the house when the fire erupted. Among the tenants was a pregnant woman who was transported to the hospital by ambulance after having contractions. The local police also dispatched several officers to the scene.
Witnesses recognised the Algerian guy as the arsonist and informed the National Police that the now-arrested man was residing in the property, renting a room. However, two days before the fire, he was evicted for not paying his rent.
He made threats before departing, which he allegedly followed through on: “If I leave, there will be many problems.” Two days later, he went over a fence and requested for a phone charger via a window. When they ignored him, he took a bottle of alcohol, placed a piece of paper on it, set it on fire, and flung it into the house.
The suspected arsonist fled, while the Scientific Police conducted an on-site assessment of the home and detectives from the Violent Crime Unit (UDEV) began taking witness statements and enquiring about the suspect’s location.
On February 4th, a patrol from the Citizen Security Brigade identified and apprehended the individual. Officers escorted him to the UDEV (Specialised Violent Crime Unit), where he went through the requisite procedures before being brought before a judge as the suspected arsonist and property damager. Last Thursday, the detainee appeared in Alicante duty court and was ordered kept in pretrial detention without bail.
Author: Derek Appleton
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