A 48-year-old municipal employee from Pallini has been remanded in custody, accused of lighting four fires in the area during June and July.
He fronted court this week, denying the allegations and insisting police had “the wrong bloke.”
“I’ve got nothing to do with the fires,” he told the magistrate. “I never admitted anything. They searched my bag and van and found nothing. There’s no video of me lighting fires. They just saw my van in the area and assumed I was a suspect.”
The man was arrested on a warrant and is alleged to have been behind fires on June 18 and 19, and again on July 14. According to investigators, the blazes were set close to the Community Centre for Child & Adolescent Mental Health, the Experimental Music High School and Gymnasium, and a nearby Creative Activities Centre — all points along his municipal work route.
Authorities described the suspect as the “obvious” arsonist of Pallini, pointing to his distinctive van, which residents recognised in the vicinity of the fires.
The municipality confirmed that his contract, renewed last August for the 2024–2025 school year, placed him in charge of transporting children under a state-supported programme for preschool and extracurricular education. Council officials stressed that he was employed under fixed-term private law contracts, while his father insisted he was a permanent employee and denied any wrongdoing.
The man was arrested on a warrant and is alleged to have been behind fires on June 18 and 19, and again on July 14.
“We unequivocally condemn any criminal act of arson,” the mayor of Pallini said in a statement. “The news that a municipal employee may be involved is a heavy blow for all of us. We fully respect the justice system and await the decision of the competent authorities.”
The accused, who remains in remand, continues to deny all charges. “It’s all lies, I’m innocent,” he told Greece’s Live News. “I never started fires. I simply carried out my duties, picking up and dropping off children. I have a clean record and have worked for eight municipalities. You’ve arrested the wrong person.”
However, police sources claim the man initially confessed to setting the blazes, allegedly linking his actions to gambling debts. “Every time I lost, I set a fire,” he reportedly admitted, describing how he threw burning papers onto dry grass.
His father rejected this account, saying: “Other people also drive this van. He only works in the afternoons. He is a family man.”
The suspect is due back in court on Friday.
In a separate case, authorities also arrested a 62-year-old foreign national on suspicion of arson after a blaze broke out in a forested area near the Hellenic-American College of Athens (Latsio), close to the Attiki Odos in Pallini.
