Three more car fires in Gouda; 23 this month

Three cars went up in flames in Gouda during the early hours of Tuesday morning. That brings the number of car fires in the city up to 23 since May 3rd. The police suspect arson in all cases.

At around 00:25 a.m., the first car caught fire on Boelhouwerstraat in Oosterwei, near the crossing with Van Roijenstraat, AD reports. Firefighters were quickly at the scene, but the car burned out completely. The second car fire happened a short time later on Veenenburg in Bloemendaal. The third car fire on Oostmolenpad was reported at around 5:00 a.m.

On Friday Gouda mayor Mirjam Salet announced that preventative searches would take place in a number of neighborhoods in an effort to stop this series of car fires. Every night from 10:30 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. the police will search people for flammable and fire-accelerating liquids and fire lighters, among other things. This measure was implemented after extensive police investigation, extra surveillance and neighborhood guards did not produce the desired effect. The measure is in place until Wednesday morning.

Oosterwei and Bloemendaal are among the "risk neighborhoods" where preventative searches are taking place, according to the newspaper.