Student sentenced to 3 1/2 years after pleading guilty to Langara College arson

A Langara College student was sentenced to three and a half years in prison after pleading guilty to arson at the South Vancouver college on April 1, 2019.

Vancouver police say Nasradin Abdusamad Ali, 24, pleaded guilty this week, admitting to detonating incendiary devices inside the college, starting a series of small fires.

No one was injured in the incident, but the fires forced the evacuation of the school's main campus.

Vancouver police said the bomb squad detonated another device at the scene.

Arrested a few hours later

Witnesses identified Ali, who they believe placed the devices, police said. He was arrested by Metro Vancouver Transit Police in Surrey about four hours after the fires broke out.

Ali was a registered student and had been attending Langara College for a few years at the time of the fires.

In a statement, Vancouver police said he assaulted another Langara student a month before the arson, prompting him to start the fire.

“Ali was found guilty of assault and arson with disregard for human life,” said VPD spokesperson Const. Tania Visintin in a press release.

Ali was sentenced this week in provincial court to one day for assault and three and a half years in prison for arson.

Once released, police say he will be subject to additional conditions and monitoring.