ISKANDAR PUTERI: A 17-year-old girl was arrested early yesterday morning for allegedly setting fire to a car in a gated residential area in Taman Damai Jaya, Skudai, here.
The teenager is believed to have been acting on orders from an illegal moneylending syndicate. She allegedly set a 39-year-old man's car on fire by hurling a Molotov cocktail after he defaulted on loan repayments.
District police chief Assistant Commissioner Kumarasan Muniandy said police were deployed to the scene immediately after receiving the victim's call at 3am.
The girl was arrested at 3.50am, and police seized several items, including a threatening note with a Singapore-registered phone number, a handwritten warning note reading - "Owe money pay today. This is a warning. If you still don't reply, I will come burn".
Other items confiscated included ink markers, glass bottles, petrol containers, a car, and a mobile phone.
The suspect had no prior criminal record, and a urine test confirmed she was free of drugs.
"We suspect the teenager was hired by Ah Longs to intimidate the victim for failing to repay a loan," Kumarasan said in a statement today.
The suspect is currently under a six-day remand for arson and criminal intimidation using anonymous communication.