A series of car arson attacks in the capital's "Dianabad" neighborhood. Residents say that there have been attacks for months. The latest incident was on Thursday night, when several cars were set on fire again in front of two of the blocks. Since Friday, dozens of reports have been received from victims and worried people from the neighborhood, Nova TV reports.
“Our car burned down on October 7 at night”, said Marina, who is one of the victims. “We didn't even have rims. Our neighbor signaled, she woke us up. We managed to push some other cars aside, because the whole row would have burned down and the trees would have caught fire. It would have been a much bigger disaster. We had a gas cylinder in our car, but it didn't explode. It was a very scary situation”.
“My car was one of the first to burn down. It happened in early May. At 1 a.m., a neighbor told me that my car, his, and another person's car were on fire” shared another victim.
According to him, a car catches fire at the beginning of every month. So far, 20 cars have been burned down. “The only suspicious thing in my case is that I had an accident just as I was returning from a vacation with my family. The perpetrator fled, I called the police, they filed a report. Nine hours later, my car was on fire”.
“I found out from my neighbors at 5 a.m.”, commented a third victim. ”I went out, the fire department had already left. You could say I'm one of the lucky ones, because my car was very slightly burned. But that will cost me 2,000 leva and a long time without being able to use it”.
He appealed to the neighbors to buy a camera to see who the perpetrator is. “A camera costs no more than 10 leva, divided by the entire entrance, with the devices, with everything necessary. One detail at the moment, even if it is painted, is 300 leva. A complete arson is a huge blow to any family”, he believes.
According to one of the residents, this is not about revenge or an attempt to clear the space to have more parking spaces. “This has been happening for half a year. We've always parked like this, the neighborhood has always been overrun with cars”.
People are worried that cars will continue to be set on fire. NOVA has information from the Ministry of Interior that since May, a case of a 41-year-old man's car being set on fire has been given priority. Five months ago, back in the summer, several more attempts were reported, some of them successful. Pre-trial proceedings are underway. Whether all these arsons were the work of the same person, the police cannot say.