British Columbia

Student sentenced to 3½ years after pleading guilty to Langara College arson

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

Nasradin Abdusamad Ali, 24, admits to detonating incendiary devices on campus

Police swarmed Langara College and the main campus was evacuated after a series of explosions caused several small fires on April 1, 2019. (Denis Dossmann/CBC)

A Langara College student has been sentenced to three and 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, entered the plea this week, admitting he detonated incendiary devices inside the college causing  a series of small fires.

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

Vancouver police said the bomb disposal unit detonated another device at the scene.

Arrested hours later

Witnesses identified Ali, who they believe planted the devices, according to police. He was arrested by Metro Vancouver Transit Police in Surrey about four hours after the fires were set.

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, which prompted him to set the fires.

"Ali has been convicted of assault and arson with disregard for human life," said VPD spokesperson Const. Tania Visintin in a statement.

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

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