Moroccan authorities have arrested a man suspected of deliberately starting a wildfire that swept through the Houara Forest near Tangier, prosecutors said on Wednesday.
The fire, which broke out in the Gueznaia commune, destroyed significant areas of forestland. The Public Prosecutor’s Office at the Tangier Court of Appeal said it immediately instructed the Royal Gendarmerie to open an urgent investigation into the cause of the blaze.
The inquiry led to the arrest of a man found near the scene carrying a bag containing ten lighters, a cannabis pipe, and a small knife, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement. He was taken into custody for questioning.
The suspect appeared before prosecutors on Wednesday. Following his interrogation, a request was filed to open a formal judicial investigation into charges including arson, drug use, and illegal possession of a weapon. The investigating judge ordered that he be held in pre-trial detention at Tangier 2 prison.
Authorities said the public would be informed of the outcome of the investigation in due course, in line with the principles of transparency and legal due process.
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