The man who stole a cement mixing truck from a building site last week and took it for a joyride through central Reykjavík has been arrested in connection with a fire at Pablo Discobar on Wednesday evening, RÚV reports.
The fire broke out in the Pablo Discobar nightclub at Veltsund 1 at around 11pm and it took firefighters until 4am to extinguish the blaze. All available firefighters from the Capital Area were called to the scene as it was feared the fire would spread to neighbouring buildings.
The club sustained considerable fire damage and the roof had to be broken by firefighters. Fortunately, the fire was contained to the third floor, meaning several other businesses and homes located in the same wooden building were left unharmed. Just as was the case with the suspect’s previous crime, it was down to the skill of Reykjavík’s emergency forces and a certain degree of luck that no one was harmed in the incident.
As reported last week, several drivers and pedestrians were put in serious danger when a man drove a stolen cement truck through central Reykjavík at around 9am on the 11th of March. The vehicle careened down Laugavegur and Bankastræti, around Lækjargata and along Sæbraut, driving a considerable distance on the wrong side of the road, ignoring red traffic lights and mounting the pavement. The driver was suspected to be under the influence of drugs at the time of the incident.
According to an RÚV source, the man will be remanded in police custody for the next four weeks following a court decision yesterday afternoon. Police are yet to confirm that the same individual was behind both incidents and investigation into the cause of the fire is still ongoing. If it is confirmed that the man was responsible for both crimes, there will undoubtedly be serious questions to be answered over the circumstances of his release last week.
Fingers crossed the cement-truck bandit and night-club arsonist won’t grace our headlines again, or at the very least, for the duration of this month.
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