Police: Motive for setting Tampere pizzeria fire still unclear

Restaurant owner and three others remanded in custody

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Police say that the fire which broke out at a pizza restaurant in Tampere early on Monday morning may have been an attempt at insurance fraud.
      The investigators emphasise, however, that they are keeping an open mind about the motive.
      Police say that they have learned that the intention was to cause damage only to the restaurant, and not to other parts of the building, nor was it intended that anyone should get hurt. Three people nevertheless died in a stairwell of the apartment complex in the same building, above the ground-level restaurant.
     
Police have four male suspects in the case, the 22-year-old owner and his older brother, as well as two others. All four were all remanded in custody by Pirkanmaa District Court on Friday.
      The owner, who lives in Helsinki, apparently has no criminal record. The man, with a Kurdish background, has lived in Finland for a long time.
      He was detained at a police station on Monday where he had been summoned for questioning on the fire. Inconsistencies in his story apparently raised the suspicions of the police.
     
The owner is known to be a friendly person who speaks good Finnish, and who is described in his Facebook updates as a socially outgoing and active man with a good sense of humour.
      Updates from the weekend preceding the fire indicate that the man had been looking forward to a week’s holiday, and that he was to have returned to work in Tampere this weekend.
      The Facebook postings also show that he did not always happy with his work, which involved long hours and late nights.
     
He became the owner of the Juliet Pizzeria last spring.
      A dispute with a collection agency over an unpaid bill nearly brought him to court, but the matter was resolved.
      The older brother has worked in the restaurant business in Helsinki. He also has no previous criminal record.
     
There is intense competition in the kebab and pizza business in Tampere - especially in the centre of the city, with prices for a pizza or a kebab as low as five euros.
      Juliet, with its prime location below a night club, distinguished itself from many of its competitors with its unusually ornate interior.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Owner arrested for Tampere pizzeria arson (25.11.2011)
  Police tight-lipped about Tampere fire investigation (24.11.2010)
  Police suspect arson in deadly restaurant fire in Tampere (23.11.2010)
  Three dead after early morning fire in Tampere restaurant (UPDATED 15:50, and 19:25) (22.11.2010)

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