Whilst members of the Green Meanies have been arrested in Almuñécar for alleged drug trafficking, another guardsman was arrested for arson. Yes, a Guardia Civil policeman in Madrid stands accused of deliberately starting 19 forest/mountain-brush fires.

And things don’t look very good for him because he was nabbed in fraganti; i.e. red handed by members of Seprona, which is a branch of the Guardia Civil charged with protecting the environment.

The 29-year-old suspect has been attributed just under a score of deliberate fires in the area of Navas del Rey, Chapinería and Cadlso de los Vidrios, all within the Comunidad de Madrid. The policeman was posted to Navas del Rey on the 17th of July, which was when these fires began to crop up.

Arson was suspected from the start and the unit began investigations, little knowing that one of the team was reportedly the culprit.

Locals from the area have played a very important roll in tracking down the person behind the fires, as well as forest-fire fighters and forest wardens. It was obvious from the very first fire that somebody was deliberately doing it because the first fire broke out in seven places almost simultaneously.

It was long before his colleagues began to suspect the new comer, which lead to his eventual arrest.

(News: Navas del Rey, Madrid, Spain)