An investigation into a suspicious fire that damaged a local mosque last week has been transferred to the Montreal police arson squad. At around 2 a.m. last Friday, roughly 50 firefighters were called to a parked truck that was on fire between two buildings on Courtrai Avenue in Montreal’s Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough. One of the buildings was Baitul Mukarram Mosque. The flames spread to a container also parked near the mosque, damaging both the container and the exterior of the mosque. On Tuesday, Montreal police spokesperson Johany Charland said the arson unit is now leading the investigation after being handed over from the Montreal fire department. Contrary to other media reports, Charland said there are no new elements that have come to light and that the investigation has been automatically transferred to the SPVM arson unit “because firefighters were not able to tell the cause of the fire.” “We will investigate to see how it started,” she said, adding that the fire has not been deemed criminal in nature so far. The fire at the mosque came 24 hours before a fire destroyed Nöam, a kosher restaurant in the same borough. In that fire, the SPVM said evidence found at the scene suggested it was deliberately set, which has prompted a criminal investigation to determine the motive. In addition, video surveillance footage appears to show someone lighting the fire and running away. Charland said the fires at the restaurant and the mosque are being investigated as separate incidents.
