Woman sets fire to supermarkets to get away without paying for groceries
Woman sets fire to supermarkets to get away without paying for groceries
A WOMAN who has been deliberately setting fire to supermarkets to avoid paying for her groceries has been arrested.
The accused, C.B.S., 51, is said to have an existing criminal record.
She was caught by National Police in Huelva, south-western Spain after an in-store arson attack which caused flames of over five feet in height in an aisle.
On each occasion, the suspect is said to have started the fires to take advantage of the mayhem caused and the fact that security staff were otherwise occupied in order to sneak out of the store with a full trolley.
Two fires were started in branches of the same supermarket in the city within less than a week of each other, but on the second occasion she was unable to get away with her trolley and had to abandon it and leave on foot.
Each time, once the panic among staff and customers had subsided and the flames put out, security guards found firelighters where the blaze had started.
The total damage caused to the supermarkets was over 2,000 euros – 600 euros in the first and 1,500 euros in the second.
Additionally, the shops had to remain closed to the public for at least a couple of hours, resulting in a loss of profit which exacerbated the cost of repairing the burnt-out areas and replacing the ruined stock.
Police managed to trace and arrest the woman after the second fire.
