Spike in loan-harassment cases involving fire
There has been a recent spike in loan-shark harassment cases involving fire, with at least four cases reported last week, police said.
The Straits Times understands that this was the highest number of such cases reported in a week in the past month.
One suspect, a 20-year-old Malaysian man, was taken by investigators back to the scene in Jurong West yesterday morning.
The man had allegedly set fire to a Housing Board flat as well as splashed paint on a neighbouring unit last Friday.
He is believed to have been involved in at least six cases of loan-shark harassment islandwide, with at least three of them involving fire.
The cases were carried out at residential units in Jurong West and Hougang, among other locations.
Dressed in a red polo T-shirt and dark blue shorts, with restraints on his arms and legs, the man was led to the two HDB flats in Jurong West flanked by officers.
He was charged last Saturday for unlicensed moneylending harassment by setting fire.
If found guilty, he could be jailed up to five years, fined up to $50,000, and receive up to six strokes of the cane.
In a separate case last Wednesday, a 19-year-old man was arrested for setting fire to the door of a unit in Block 401 Jurong West Street 42.
A 51-year-old man who stays above the unit suffered burns on both his hands when he tried to put out the fire.
MP Ang Wei Neng said that alternate accommodation has been arranged for the affected family, who are unable to return to the flat.
Superintendent Han Teck Kwong, who heads the Unlicensed Moneylending Strikeforce, said the police do not tolerate such brazen acts that cause damage and endanger the lives of innocent victims.
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