The recent Tahfiz school fire has been making headlines across the country and has been dubbed as the “worst fire disaster in 20 years” after claiming 23 innocent lives.
The news shocked the nation as there were many young children in the school and there was no fire escape, which caused many of them to die from smoke inhalation.
The recent update to the case showed that there were traces of petrol at the front door, which lead police into suspecting that there was foul play involved.
Subsequently, shocking updates show that the fire is believed to be an arson case, after police arrested seven teenagers in relation to the fire, NST reports. Apparently, these seven boys aged between 12 and 18 had started the fire because they were angered by the name-calling that had occurred a few days ago.
Source: NST
In an act of senseless revenge, these boys decided to teach the tahfiz school students a lesson by burning down the building.
“Two of them had initially planned to break in to the school to steal the students’ handphones.
“When they gathered at an eatery beside a premise near the school early Thursday morning, the suspects had discussed about burning the school as revenge,” the police said.
“Two of them went to buy petrol. About 4.30am, the boys then gathered at a field behind the tahfiz school, before three of them sneaked into the school,” a source told NST.
Source: Chinapress
Source: Chinapress
The boys discovered that the dorm’s doors were locked so they returned downstairs and got into a nearby food kiosk where they stole two gas cylinders. “Three of them then took the cylinders to the third floor of the hostel. One of them poked the cylinders’ heads to release the gas. They then poured petrol on the staircase starting from the third floor before igniting the petrol using a lighter,” reports said.
The suspects proceeded to flee the scene on their motorcycles but City police chief Datuk Amar Singh has clarified in a press conference that they have managed to identify and arrest seven suspects based on CCTV recordings from the Muslim Consumers Association, located next to the school, NST reported.
Source: Chinapress
Six of them tested positive for ganja and possibly meth use, and some of them were school dropouts while two of them had criminal records. They were detained around the Kampung Dato’ Keramat area by the police. A student from the school was arrested earlier but was not a suspect, and merely to assist with investigations.
After making the arrests, police said that case is solved. The police will investigate the case under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder which carries the death sentence upon conviction, and Section 435 of the same code for mischief by fire.
So many innocent lives lost in an easily prevented incident. May their souls rest in peace.
Also read: 25 Students and Teachers Tragically Killed in Religious School That Caught Fire
