An Iranian man has been granted permission to admit to starting the fire in the wooden housing settlement in Kirkegata in Levanger on Monday. He expressed frustration at the asylum team as a background.
The man was arrested on Monday night, investigator,Tor Klevmo of Levanger’s mayor’s office told Adresseavisen newspaper.
‘’The man was arrested in Levanger without drama. It was the technical and tactical investigation that led the police to suspect him,” Klevmo said.
Rejected in 2016
According to Trønder-Avisa newspaper, the 47 year old man said that dissatisfaction and frustration about the rejection of the asylum application was the cause. When questioned, he had confessed to the arson.
“He explained that dissatisfaction with his own situation and frustration that his case had not been clarified was the background for the action,” said investigator Klevmo.
According to Trønder-Avisa, the man had lived in Kirkegata for the past year. He finally had the application for asylum rejected in 2016 but had not been sent out of the country because it had not been possible to get approved documentation of his identity, according to the police.
Many evacuated
25 residents were evacuated in connection with the fire which started at 07.30 on Monday morning. Later in the day, some people could move back. The fire started in an apartment, and the flames spread to a neighbouring apartments. The wooden house that burned was listed in 1897.
The man is being presented for detention on Wednesday.He was sentenced under Section 335 of the Criminal Code,a statutory provision that corresponds to a previous fire clause.
© NTB scanpix / #Norway Today
