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City police chief Amar Singh said the suspects, aged between 11 and 18, were arrested yesterday, six of whom have tested positive for drugs.
“We believe that they were motivated by revenge after they were taunted by the tahfiz school students and wanted to get back at them,” he told a press conference confirming an earlier statement on the arrest of the seven.
Amar said the suspects might not have intended to kill anyone, but refused to divulge more details other than announcing that the “case is solved”.
Yesterday, Inspector-General of Police Mohamad Fuzi Harun said it was too early to launch a criminal probe into the pre-dawn fire that ripped through the top floor of the Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah tahfiz school in Jalan Keramat Ujung on Thursday.
This was despite the Kuala Lumpur fire department saying they had found traces of chemicals around the area.
It was also reported that two gas cylinders were also found just outside the stairway leading to the student’s dormitory. A warden who survived the blaze claimed he did not see the gas cylinders on the floor during the routine checks.
Amar today said the suspects were being investigated under the Penal Code’s Section 302 for murder and Section 435 for mischief by fire.
They have been remanded for seven days.
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