Million Rubles Offered For Car Arsonist's Arrest.

(From The Moscow Times)

Police on Tuesday offered a 1 million ruble ($41,600) reward for information leading to the arrest of a serial arsonist suspected of setting fire to 15 cars in southern Moscow over the past five nights.

Police have issued a facial composite of a criminal based on witness accounts. The search is related to the torching of 11 cars in the North Butovo Administrative District on Thursday night, and four subsequent cases of arson in the district, police spokesman Yevgeny Gildeyev said.

The suspect is described as thin, round-shouldered and of European appearance. He is 30 to 40 years old and 1.70 meters tall. The composite photo shows a broad-faced man with a deeply lined forehead.

Following Thursday's incidents, three cars were set alight in Yasenevo early Monday and, most recently, a BMW was burned early Tuesday on Profsoyuznaya Ulitsa, said Irina Zhurova, a police spokeswoman for the Southwestern Administrative District.

Zhurova declined to say whether there were any witnesses, saying only that the investigation was ongoing.

Two residents of Kaliningrad were arrested on suspicion of arson but were then released, she said.