A 71-year-old woman was arrested by the Central Directorate of the Judiciary Police on suspicion of being the author of a fire in São Simão de Litém, in the municipality of Pombal, that criminal body said today.
The PJ said it had arrested a 71-year-old woman for the alleged crime of arson, which took place at around 10pm on Monday in Santo Elói, São Simão do Litém, in the municipality of Pombal, Leiria district.
The suspect “used a direct flame (a lighter) and set the fire in an area of uncultivated land, with houses scattered around and very close to a patch of forest with horizontal and vertical continuity of several hundred hectares of eucalyptus and maritime pine”.
The fire “would have had more serious proportions if there hadn’t been rapid and effective intervention by the firefighting resources”.
The PJ, which said that the arrest took place with the collaboration of the National Republican Guard of Pombal, added that the suspect’s “actions endangered the physical integrity and lives of people, homes and a large patch of forest”.
The woman will be brought before the court for questioning and coercive measures.
