Rampaging man, huffing for a puff, sets home ablaze

KEPALA BATAS - Police arrested a drug addict after the man set fire to his two-storey family heritage house in Pokok Sena here yesterday when he went berserk when his younger brother refused to give him cigarettes.

Seberang Perai Utara District Ppolice chief ACP Mohd Asri Shafie said the 47-year-old suspect was believed to have set the house on fire at about 9 pm yesterday while his younger brother was making a police report about his rampage.

"The younger brother made a police report for fear of his safety after the suspect went on a rampage at home after he was denied cigarettes, and then he received a phone call informing him that his house was on fire.

"Neighbours said the suspect had set fire to the house and they managed to nab him before bounding him over to police at the scene," he said today.

Mohd Asri said the two-storey house, with the upper part made of planks and the lower part made of bricks, was gutted along with four unused motorcycles while the house next door also caught fire in the kitchen.

He said the unemployed man admitted to burning the curtains with a lighter in his bedroom before the fire spread to the entire house.

"The house was occupied by the man, his mother and younger brother but she was away visiting her daughter in Balik Pulau," he said, adding that the man, who tested positive for drugs, also had 14 criminal and drug-related criminal records. - BERNAMA