TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested an 80-year-old man who is suspected of starting fires in a riverbed in Hachioji City, reports TBS News (Mar. 20).
At around 11:45 a.m. on March 18, Kunio Nishizawa allegedly used a lighter to set dry grass in the riverbed of the Asa River on fire.
The subsequent blaze burned an area of about 110 square meters, police said.
Upon his arrest on suspicion of arson, Nishizawa admitted to the allegations. “I started the fire for fun,” the suspect was quoted by the Hachioji Police Station.
According to police, Nishizawa lives near where the fire started. He surfaced as a person of interest in the case for police after an examination of security camera footage.
Police suspect that he started two other fires on the area on March 7 and 11. The are burned in all three incidents is around 880 square meters, police said.
