A family in Johor woke up to see their home being engulfed in flames after an illegal moneylender (‘Ah Long’) set it on fire over an unpaid debt.
To make matters worse, it turned out that they weren’t supposed to be the target but got caught up in the situation no thanks to the previous owner’s son.
Had house set on fire with petrol bombs
According to China Press, the incident took place last Friday (Sept 5) at around 3am at the family’s home in Kluang, Johor.
Qiu (transliteration) told the Chinese daily that she, her husband, and children were sleeping when her husband heard an explosion caused by Molotov cocktails being thrown into the compound and the car alarm.
“Our neighbours saw that our house was on fire and triggered the car alarm to warn us , which allowed us to escape in time.
“Unfortunately, the fire spread to other units and a total of four adjacent terraced houses were affected. Our two cars and compound were completely destroyed too,” she said.
A threatening note was also found at the scene by residents too.
Debtor was previous owner’s son
It later turned out that the intended target was the son of the previous owner, who had moved out years ago, reported Shin Min Daily News.
According to the debtor, who now works in Singapore, he told Kluang MP Wong Shu Qi that he had fallen victim to a “forced loan scam”, where he was forced to transfer over RM32,868 into his Singaporean bank account by loan sharks.
After transferring the money, he found himself being accused of owing the loan sharks money.
However, he said he will be filing a police report in Singapore and will do the same when he returns to Kluang.
Female ‘Ah Long’ arrested
Meanwhile, Kluang police chief Assistant Commissioner Bahrin Mohd Noh said in a statement that police have arrested a 46-year-old woman believed to be the culprit for the arson attack.
Several Molotov cocktails, clothing believed to have been worn during the incident, and two cars were also seized by police.
The woman, who had no criminal record, was remanded until Sept 12 to aid investigations under Section 435 of the Penal Code for mischief by fire and Section 506 for criminal intimidation.
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