The owner of a pizza shop in west Belfast has told of his devastation after his business was rammed by a car and robbed before being set alight.
Extensive damage was caused to Pizza Guyz on the Andersonstown Road after it was targeted in the early hours of Tuesday.
Police are treating the blaze as arson.
Owner Ciaran Kelly told The Irish News that he was alerted to the fire by a staff member. He said it is believed that a car was used to ram the takeaway, before the shop was robbed and a fire started.
“I got a call from one of our drivers who said the shop was on fire,” he said.
“At first I thought it must be something left on or a malfunction of some sort.
“It was when I arrived down that I saw the car outside, it had clearly rammed the shop and stuff was taken out and a fire started.”
Mr Kelly said extensive damage had been caused to the business, which employs 14 members of staff and a number of delivery drivers. A neighbouring cafe that was due to open next week also suffered damage in the fire.
“I’m trying to be optimistic, that hopefully it can be repaired, but there’s a lot of water damage to the shop,” he said.
“The assessor is saying there’s a lot of smoke damage too.
“We will have a better idea when the insurance company comes out to see it. But if things are able to be repaired, it could be hundreds of thousands of pounds.”
Asked if he had any idea why the takeaway had been targeted, he said he knew of ”no reason at all”.
“We have never had any issues,” he said.
Mr Kelly added that they had “great staff” and had received “great support since it happened”.
In a post on social media early on Tuesday, Mr Kelly had appealed for anyone with information to come forward.
“We got rammed, then robbed and set on fire,” he wrote.
“Any information, please contact the police.”
So this has just happened in the early hours. We got rammed, then robbed and set on fire Any information, please...
Posted by Pizza Guyz - Andersonstown Road on Monday, 8 January 2024
Police and fire crews were called to the scene and the road was closed for a time.
A PSNI spokesman said “officers on patrol in the area at 5am saw a vehicle and part of a shop front in flames”.
“Our colleagues from Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service attended and extinguished the blaze,” he said.
“At this stage, it appears that the vehicle was driven at the shop and the fire started deliberately, causing extensive damage.
“Our investigation is underway and anyone with any information, who may have been in the area at the time the incident took place, is asked to contact us on 101.”
Police said on Tuesday afternoon that a 31-year-old man had been arrested. He was later released on bail to allow for further enquiries to be conducted.
A spokeswoman said he was detained “on suspicion of aiding and abetting arson and remains in custody at this time”.
The NI Fire and Rescue Service said they received a call at 4.58am and four appliances attended the scene.
“Firefighters were called to reports of a car on fire that had spread to a commercial premises earlier this morning,” a spokesperson said.
“Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus, used four hose reels to extinguish the fire.
“The incident was dealt with by 7.47am and the cause of the fire is being treated as deliberate ignition at this time.”
