Police in Independence Chasing Clues in Trio Arson Caused by Land Dispute

Four men working for a company linked to a Chinese national are believed to be behind a massive arson last Thursday night in the tiny village of Trio, in the Toledo District. The affected villagers are claiming that the fire was set because of a land dispute. A total of more than fifteen thousand acres of land is in dispute between the villagers and GreenWood Development Company Limited and Greenland Development Corporation Limited, which had written the residents on September twelfth demanding that they remove themselves from the property which they occupy “illegally” by September thirtieth, in default legal action. Police immediately began investigations, but so far they have not gotten anywhere, as explained by commanding officer for Intermediate Southern Formation, Superintendent Reymundo Reyes.

On the Phone: Supt. Reymundo Reyes, O.C., Intermediate Southern Formation Police

“The report was received on Thursday, the seventeenth of November, sometime around two-twenty p.m., that there were several houses being burned down in Trio village. As a result, Police visited the village, where they met with several villagers, who accompanied the Police into a feeder road northwest of the village, about four miles in, where Police saw the remnants of four wooden structures, totally destroyed by fire, and one of them was just demolished. Information was that on that same date, sometime around twelve-thirty midday, a gray Mahindra pick-up truck with unknown license plate was seen coming out of the area with four male persons – two of dark complexion, and two, either Mestizo or Caucasian descent persons who I believe are the persons that set the structures on fire. At this moment, police are trying to obtain statements from the owners of the structures and the matter is under investigation.  We know that the land is in dispute; the only thing that has been obtained by Police is a document given to some of the persons occupying those premises, where they were asked to vacate the said premises; and this is a letter dated on the twelfth of September, 2016, sent by a law office to them, asking them to vacate the premises as apparently the property belongs to some Chinese national, who apparently owns the land.”

According to the letter, the companies “are the freehold owners of land in Trio area of Toledo district comprising eleven thousand seven hundred eighty acres of land and four thousand nine hundred seventy acres of land.”