Wave of fires causes concern

POLITICIANS are calling for better security and more police patrols in Benamocarra after five cars were set alight, two of them on New Year’s Eve.

Three vehicles burned earlier in December were joined on the last night of the year by two parked outside the Usos Multiples municipal building in the early hours. 

One, a white Seat Ibiza, belonged to the local spokes-man for Izquierda Unida, Gerardo Apontes, while the other, a Peugeot 206, was his mother’s.

Although quick work on the part of the provincial firefighter’s consortium avoided the cars being completely burned out, both still suffered a lot of damage, the politician reported the next day.

Apontes and the PSOE opposition party have urged local mayor Abdeslam Lucena to up surveillance in the streets of the village following the wave of fires targeting parked cars. 

However, this is simply impossible, the mayor said, as there are only three Local Police officers in the village and they are physically unable to cover the whole area.

Lucena reported that the Guardia Civil is investigating the fires and is attempting to track down a suspicious vehicle seen driving round the area a number of times minutes before the fire broke out.