A 30-year-old forestry engineer arrested on suspicion of causing a forest fire in Barreiro de Besteiros, Tondela, has been placed in preventive detention, the Judicial Police (PJ) said on Friday.
“The suspect was heard in the Viseu court and was placed in preventive detention as a coercive measure,” a source in PJ told Lusa, referring to the 30-year-old man, a forestry engineer, arrested on Thursday on suspicion of being the author of a forest fire crime.
According to a statement from the Central Judicial Police Directorate, the fire occurred on Wednesday in Barreiro de Besteiros, Tondela municipality, Viseu district, and based on this, a PJ source told Lusa, “it could be proven, but other fires are suspected in the region.
“The suspect, who has a criminal record for similar crimes, remains a strong suspect in connection with five other fires that have occurred near the site this month.”
The same PJ source told Lusa that “in 2016, he, who was working as a butcher at the time, was given a three-year suspended sentence for the same crime – a forest fire.”
“He currently works for a private company as a forestry engineer, but only clears forests and bushes,” the same source said.
According to the Center’s board of directors, “the suspect allegedly used direct flames to start the fire in a forest in an area with a large forest area filled with shrubs and maritime pine.”
The area in question “adjacent to an urban area, which posed a threat to the physical integrity and lives of people, houses and forests covering hundreds of hectares.”
According to the SP, “the fire did not become more serious due to the quick and effective intervention of members of the public and firefighters.”
The arrest was made in collaboration with the Rural Fire Reduction Working Group of the GNR Santa Comba Dão Centre and the GNR Campo de Besteiros, municipality of Tondela.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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