Police extradite man over fire
COFFS Harbour detectives are extraditing a man from Queensland over an alleged act of arson on the Coffs Coast.
The 47-year-old was arrested by Queensland police on Wednesday.
Police say he was wanted on an outstanding NSW arrest warrant in relation to a house fire, which occurred at Brierfield in December last year.
Officers gained the man's extradition in the Mackay Magistrates Court today and police say he will face the Tweed Heads Local court on Saturday morning.
Two teenagers are already before the courts facing charges over the suspicious fire, which razed a home to the ground on a Rigney Rd property on December 29, last year.
The 49-year-old male owner was not at home at the time of the fire, but he later suffered burns to his hands when he returned around 10.30pm and discovered the 100-year-old homestead engulfed in flames.
After the alarm was raised emergency services arrived on scene to find the house well alight.
In the wake of the fire a police strike force codenamed Exhibition was formed to investigate the incident and led to the arrest of a 17-year-old male at his home in Mulwala on the Victorian border last month.
Another man Blake O'Connor, 18, was arrested at a home in San Francisco Ave, Park Beach.
He is currently before the Coffs Harbour Local Court facing charges of aggravated break and enter and commit a serious indictable offence (arson).
O'Connor is also facing an unrelated sex charge of procuring a child for unlawful sexual activity.
More details on the case will be revealed in the Coffs Coast Advocate on Saturday.
