The Policía Local by Ceuta arrested a man on the night of 11 September who is accused of setting fire to a vehicle in Polígono Virgen de África According to police, the person arrested is an employee of the municipal cleaning company Servilimpce. He was handed over to the Policía Nacional . The Jefatura Superior de Policía Nacional confirmed the incident. The authorities initially gave no information about the motive.
Meanwhile, emergency services reported several fires at different locations across the city that same night. According to consistent reports, eight vehicles and four rubbish containers were damaged or destroyed. In the Naves del Tarajal a storage facility containing informal accommodation for migrants also burned down; according to police sources, around 42 makeshift shelters were destroyed there. People were able to reach safety in time, and no injuries were reported. The fire brigade, Policía Local and Policía Nacional were deployed for several hours.
There is currently no confirmed information linking the individual fires. Investigators are reviewing video footage, collecting evidence and questioning witnesses. It remains unclear whether the Servilimpce employee arrested is connected to any other fires. Police said the investigation is ongoing and that preliminary findings may be clarified at any time.
The incidents overnight are a strain on a city that has faced tense debates about security, migration and social infrastructure for years. The fire at Naves del Tarajal affects an area that has long been precarious, where informal accommodation has repeatedly been established and cleared. Municipal authorities were preparing safety measures in the morning to prevent fires from reigniting and to cordon off the affected areas. No specific orders on accommodation for the residents displaced there had initially been made public.
The authorities urged residents living near the incident sites to keep their windows closed until the smoke had cleared. The Policía Nacional is taking information from the public about suspicious observations on the night of the incident. Investigators intend to provide further information on the case and possible criminal proceedings after completing their initial assessments.
Editor: Mira Cadena (Article created with AI assistance).