The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has dropped all charges against 31-year-old Luis De Los Santos, a native of the Dominican Republic, who was previously charged with arson in connection with a fire that caused damage to the Immigration Detention Centre at Coolidge. De Los Santos is now facing deportation proceedings.
De Los Santos spent several days behind bars after being denied bail last week by Magistrate Ngaio Emanuel. However, when he went back to court on Tuesday, the charge was dropped and his deportation was ordered.
The original incident occurred at approximately 4:20 pm on Monday, 18 August 2025, when Police and Fire Department personnel responded to a fire report at the Antigua Air Station Military Base, where the Immigration Detention Centre is housed. Two detention rooms were found engulfed in flames before firefighters managed to extinguish the blaze, averting further damage to existing buildings.
De Los Santos, who was detained by the Immigration Department at the time, was treated for smoke inhalation and minor injuries sustained during the incident.
So the arson charge is dropped, but he’s still being deported? Seems like the authorities weren’t confident they could prove the case, yet they don’t want him here either.
Regardless of what he was accused of, this man inhaled smoke and suffered injuries. I hope he receives proper medical care before being sent back.
How come the charges dropped? 🤔
I don’t know about this one ..my feelings are all over the place. While the arson charges have gracefully been dropped, the bigger issue of deporting him back to a country he is obviously extremely terrified of returning to to the point where he probably tried to take his own life is hard to grapple with.
So did the fire start itself