Portal de Lorca
www.portaldelorca.com
Occurred on January 28, 2018 in the Polygon of La Torrecilla-Lorca |
A second person, owner of the property, has been investigated for the crime of forgery of commercial documents and for his alleged participation in the fire
It took more than 20 hours to extinguish the fire and had to evict several homes and some rooms of the hospital Rafael Méndez de Lorca
They claimed insurance companies compensation of about five million euros
The Civil Guard of the Region of Murcia, in collaboration with Firefighting Specialist Team of the Benemérita displaced from Valencia, has developed an investigation to clarify the causes of the fire that, on January 28, 2018, razed an industrial warehouse located in the polygon of La Torrecilla de Lorca, which has culminated with the arrest of the representative of the mercantile society that ran the property, as alleged perpetrator of fire crimes with danger to life and physical integrity of people, fire in property own for the purpose of defrauding, forgery of a public document and against public finances.
A second person, owner of the damaged industrial premises, has been investigated for allegedly committing a crime of forgery of a commercial document and for his alleged participation in the fire.
The events occurred at dawn on January 28, 2018, when a warehouse dedicated to the storage of bazaar products imported from China, located in the La Torrecilla de Lorca polygon, caught fire.
The work of extinction lasted for more than 20 hours
Many firefighters from different parks of the Region, patrols of the Civil Guard and the Local Police, as well as health services, came to the place.
Due to the magnitude of the fire, several neighbors of adjacent homes had to be evacuated, access to the cemetery of the town had to be closed, and even had to vacate some rooms of Rafael Méndez de Lorca hospital.
The extinguishing of the fire ended more than 20 hours later.
Next, the Civil Guard began the investigation of the incident with the presence of the Fire Investigation Specialists Team, deployed from Valencia, and canine guides of the General Directorate of the Corps, supported from the air by the Air Service of the Civil Guard of Murcia.
After several months of work, the Benemérita obtained numerous indications, such as those detected by the dogs specialists in these accidents, who located numerous accelerating products (kerosene and gasoline pills) strategically distributed in different points of the ships.
This exhaustive technical inspection made it possible to verify the existence of several foci of fire initiation, which was also corroborated with the taking of aerial images, reason why it was determined that the fire had been intentional.
Meanwhile, the specialists in the Judicial Police of the Guardia Civil de Aguilas continued with the identification of possible witnesses and persons related to the damaged property, as well as with the review of the security systems of the facilities and the analysis of the expert reports of the insurance companies.
Claimed about five million euros in compensation
The information gathered focused the suspicions on the family of Chinese origin that managed the company, as well as on the owner of the ships, all of them main beneficiaries of the insurance policies contracted through different companies, to which they claimed around five millions of euros.
At the same time, the Civil Guard asked the Tax Agency for a report on the fiscal situation and the economic circumstances of the damaged company, which made it possible to find out that the mercantile society, created by the family of Chinese origin, not only presented losses of more than 600,000 euros, but also accumulated a debt to the public treasury that was around 400,000 euros.
The investigation developed around the owner of the burnt down Spanish property, 55 years old and neighbor of Lorca allowed to find out that he also appeared as a beneficiary in the insurance policies.
Apparently, he had falsified in his favor several points of the leases presented to the insurance companies, in which a series of rights was attributed to the lessee, while increasing the value of the effects insured with the alleged intention to defraud the insurance company.
Recently, once obtained the necessary evidence, the Civil Guard has detained the representative of the lessee society of the ships, as alleged perpetrator of the crimes of fire with danger to the life of the people, fire in own property with the intention of defrauding and of fiscal offense against the Public Treasury.
It is a male, 47 years old, of Chinese nationality and resident in Lorca.
The owner and lessor of the burned buildings have been instructed to investigate the falsification of a commercial document and for their presumed participation in the arson.
The arrested and the police proceedings and technical reports have been delivered in the Court of Instruction number 1 of Lorca (Murcia).
Source: Ministerio del Interior
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