An employee of Prapakorn Oil Co has been arrested and charged for allegedly starting a fire that gutted the company's lubricant depot because she was angry with her boss.
Pol Lt Gen Thanayut Wutthicharasthamrong, the Provincial Police Region 7 chief, said on Wednesday that Sirasinee Sriya, 38, was arrested at her house in Sam Phran district of Nakhon Pathom on Tuesday by police from Pho Kaew.
The suspect was charged with arson and giving a false statement to police.
Ms Sirasinee was the supervisor of the company's solvents and lubricants depot in Sam Phran district that was gutted by fire on Monday. The blaze took firefighters four hours to bring under control. Damage was put at 40 million baht.
The depot is beside Khlong Om Yai canal and the fire sparked concerns the waterway and surrounding environment may have been polluted with petrochemicals during the blaze.
The suspect allegedly told police she started the fire to get back at her employers, because her bosses were always criticising her.
Pol Lt Gen Thanayut said Ms Sirasinee had a burn on her arm from the fire. After being treated for the burn at a hospital she told police she saw two men running away from the depot as the fire broke out shortly after noon on Monday.
But a recording retrieved from fire damaged security cameras at the depot showed she was there alone at the time.
It also allegedly showed her using a lighter to set fire to pieces of paper she then dropped into two cardboard boxes holding lubricant oil containers, which set off the blaze.
The depot was storing about 100,000 litres of lubricants and solvents at the time.
Prapakorn Oil Co has been in the lubricant oil business for more than three decades.
A senior company official denied Ms Sorsinee's accusation of excessive criticism, saying they never spoke harshly to her.