The Ecuadorian Police arrested this Thursday, September 26, 2024, a Colombian citizen, suspected of having started one of the forest fires registered in Quito since last Tuesday.
On their X social network account, the Police presented a video showing a man setting a fire on a bridge in the north of the city last Tuesday.
He noted that, after an investigative and operational deployment, they located and apprehended Jerson C., of Colombian nationality“who would have caused a forest fire on the bridge of Av. Eloy Alfaro and Las Palmeras” in the north center of the capital.
The Colombian suspected of starting the fire was placed under the orders of the competent authority.
Another capture due to a fire
Shortly after the fire was detected on the aforementioned bridge, another conflagration began in a forest area of Quito, which is mostly controlled and has consumed about 146 hectares.
Due to this fire, the preventive detention of Dylan Alberto A. has been ordered, arrested on Wednesday for allegedly being related to the fire and prosecuted for the “crime of forest and vegetation fires.”
On Wednesday, the Attorney General’s Office of the Municipality of Quito detailed that the detainee is a young man who It was found with a gallon of fuel in the Guápulo area, where the fire apparently originated.
According to the Attorney General’s Office of the Quito town hall, the Police arrested the young man in flagrante delicto, But his relatives claim that he was in the area helping to put out the fire and that he took the fuel to use in his gardening equipment.
The arrests occurred after the Ecuadorian authorities offered a reward to anyone who provides information that allows them to identify the possible causes of the fire, assuming that it was premeditated.
Luis Tonato, a civilian traffic agent, reported Wednesday that he found Tuesday afternoon two drums with flammable material near the area where the fire is presumed to have started.
The drums, which are now in police custody, contained used oil and had a “strong smell of diesel,” according to Tonato.
Citizens who are in the area of the fire have reported the discovery of bottles with wicks, what is popularly known as “molotov bombs” by containing fuel.
The fire in Quito has left seven people injured, including an eleven-month-old baby, his mother and firefighters.
Source: https://www.noticiascaracol.com/mundo/detienen-a-colombiano-sospechoso-de-iniciar-incendios-forestales-en-quito-cb20
