Manhunt for arsonist who torched cars near home

Dubai police have mounted a manhunt for a suspect believed to have set cars on fire near a house in Al Quoz area while a family of 12 were all asleep.

A family member who happened to have got out of bed and went to the bathroom smelt the blaze and jolted the others out of their sleep.

As they rushed out to escape death, they forgot their little handicapped daughter, who was later rescued by the civil defence.

“The one who did this intended to kill all of us because he set fire at the house’s only way out,” said Fatima Mohammed Hassan, who was the first family member to see the fire at dawn last Wednesday.

Colonel Ali Ghanem, chief of Bur Dubai police station, said they had identified the suspect who had threatened a teen age member of that family two days before the incident.

He said the suspect already had a police record and that he is on the run, adding that a special team is tailing him and would arrest him soon.

Fatima said the suspect is well known to the family as he lives in the same area and that he had an argument with her 17-year-old brother three months ago. She said the problem was then sorted but he again threatened my brother two days before the incident.

“He planned to kill all my family because he sprayed diesel on the house’s only two doors so no one would escape,” she told Emarat Alyoum newspaper.

She said police had found the lighter and tools used in spraying diesel on the doors and the cars.

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