Case solved with the arrest of 7 teenagers
Published on: Sunday, September 17, 2017
Kuala Lumpur: The deadly tahfiz school fire case which killed 23 people on Thursday has been "solved" with the arrests of seven teenagers, Kuala Lumpur police chief Datuk Amar Singh said.Amar said the seven teenagers aged 11 to 18 were nabbed in arrests from around 6pm on Friday until 2.30am Saturday."With the arrests of these seven individuals, I can confirm that this case has been solved and no other suspects have to be arrested," he told a press conference at the KL police headquarters.ADVERTISEMENT "This is a tragedy so I am happy we are able to solve it and can bring some peace to the families...It's a tragedy not only to the family but everybody in Malaysia," he said, noting that the children who perished were aged six to 11.He said the police have seized the shirts and pants that the suspects were wearing, as well as motorcycle helmets that they had used. A total of five shirts, five pants, three mobile phones, four helmets, two Lagenda 115Z motorcycles and one Suzuki RU 120 LU motorcycle were seized from the suspects, he said.According to Amar, all seven suspects went through urine tests and six of them were tested positive for ganja. He declined to reveal the age of the suspect who tested negative for drugs. He said no drugs were found on the suspects during their arrests, but said it was possible they were on drugs during the fatal incident. ADVERTISEMENT Out of the seven suspects, two of them had prior criminal records under Section 148 of the Penal Code for weapon possession at a riot and Section 379A for theft of a vehicle.All seven suspects were brought to court Saturday and a remand order was granted under Section 117 of the Penal Code for a seven-day detention to assist in investigation from September 16 to September 22, he said.
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"We are investigating under Section 302 and Section 435," he said, referring to the two offences under the Penal Code for murder and mischief by fire. The offence of murder under Section 302 is punishable by death, while the offence under Section 435 is punishable by a maximum 14-year jail and fine. During the press conference, Amar declined to comment on details of the case as investigations were still ongoing and it could affect the court process. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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He confirmed however that two tongs of gas were found at the tahfiz school and that an "accelerant" or "hydrocarbon" was used to speed up the fire."Maybe because of their age and maybe because of their level of maturity, they did not know their actions would cause the final result," he said, confirming however that the suspects would not be excused and that the police "will proceed as normal and follow the rule of law" in their probe on the seven.