A 28-year-old man was arrested yesterday for arson near Ip Heng Building on Avenida de Vale das Borboletas in Coloane, damaging seven motorbikes, including his father’s, according to Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Chong Kam Leong.
The Judiciary Police were notified by the Fire Services Bureau (CB) at about 5 a.m. yesterday that a motorcycle parked near Ip Heng Building was ablaze, engulfing five other motorbikes, a PJ statement said earlier yesterday.
Chong said at yesterday afternoon’s special press conference that PJ officers arrested the suspect surnamed Lai at his home within five hours of the incident.
A PJ investigation showed that, according to Chong, at the time of the incident, the suspect lit a cigarette after parking a motorbike and put the lighter into the vehicle’s storage box. He added that the suspect was not aware of whether the lighter’s flame had been extinguished before he left the scene, resulting in a fire in the vehicle about seven minutes later.
The motorbike was registered in the name of the suspect’s father, Chong said.
Chong noted that the blaze spread quickly to six other motorcycles, with his father’s badly damaged, with only the vehicle frame left, resulting in total losses of at least 23,600 patacas caused by the fire. Chong added that at the time of the press conference the Judiciary Police were still trying to contact four of the vehicle owners.
According to Chong, the floor, arcade and guardrail of the site were also severely blackened, while the plants in the adjacent flower troughs were charred.
Nobody was hurt as a result of the incident, Chong pointed out.
Lai, who told the police that he was jobless and admitted to carelessness in the case, was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, facing a charge of arson by negligence.
The hooded suspected arsonist is escorted by Judiciary Police (PJ) officers from the PJ headquarters to a vehicle in Zape after yesterday’s special press conference.
– Photo: Yuki Lei
This handout photo provided by the PJ yesterday shows the remains of a motorcycle gutted by fire near Ip Heng Building on Avenida de Vale das Borboletas in Coloane.
