Three terrace houses, five cars, and four motorcycles were destroyed in an early morning fire in Taman Tasek Gelugor Utama in Penang on Tuesday (June 24).
The fire was set by loan shark who targeted the wrong house.
In a viral Facebook post by Mohamad Asrul, one of the victims of the fire, he noticed the “warning signs” as early as June 16, when he and another neighbour found traces of gasoline and paint outside their houses. The other neighbour also found another note intended for another resident, whose house was not affected by the fire.
The note warned a woman to settle her debt before her house was set on fire.
Asrul lodged a police report on the same morning and was told to go home and wait for the police officers to come to the scene to take pictures. They allegedly never came.
On June 24, around 4:30 in the morning, Asrul was awakened by the fire
Thanks to the neighbours who shook the gate and continuously honked the horn, Asrul and other neighbours escaped the blaze. According to him, an explosive was thrown into one of the houses, causing the fire to spread rapidly.
Despite the accident, Asrul thanked those who had helped in the matter, including the firefighters and PDRM in Penang.
“Someone else borrowed money from loan sharks, but we were affected,” he lamented in his post.
Assistant Director of the Fire and Rescue Operations Division, Penang Fire and Rescue Department (JBPM), John Sagun Francis, said that his department received an emergency call regarding the incident at 4.52 am.
He said the fire was completely extinguished at 5.59 AM, and monitoring was completed about three hours later. The cause of the fire, however, is still under investigation, reported Sinar Harian.
