A man suspected of being a serial arsonist who set fire to automobiles and motorcycles was captured on June 24, the public security bureau of Guilin in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region said at a news conference on Wednesday.

The suspect burned 53 vehicles and five motorcycles worth a total of about $500,000 over three years in Guilin, police said.

Dozens of cases of automobiles being set on fire have occurred in Guilin since 2010. Because the culprit did not leave much evidence, the police only got a break when a similar arson was committed in the Xiufeng district of the city.

The police obtained useful evidence and information about the suspect from surveillance videos and waited for him to act again.

In the early morning of June 24, the suspect set fire to a car in a residential community and the task force caught him red-handed.