A retired Guardia Civil officer has been arrested and charged with deliberately causing multiple fires in the Cerro Gordo natural park at La Herradura, to the east of Nerja.
Since last summer there has been a series of at least 12 fires in the area, with little evidence of who had set them. As a result of these fires the police and park wardens put in place a surveillance operation in an attempt to catch the arsonist.
This operation bore fruit on the 26th of March when a 60 year old man, a retired Guardia Civil officer was arrested. The suspect was brought before the court in Almuñecar and released the same day pending trial.
That same afternoon another fire was set in the Cuesta del Marchante area near La Herradura and the Guardia Civil are investigating whether this latest fire is also the work of the arrested man.