Police receive report of fourth arson attempt

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KUALA LUMPUR: Police yesterday received a report on another church arson attempt involving the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Jalan Othman, Petaling Jaya, making it the fourth church attack case thus far.

However, police believe this incident happened about the same time as the others but was only reported at 2pm yesterday.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein, who confirmed the latest report, urged all quarters not to speculate but let the police investigate.

“The spreading of SMSes that there were more arson attempts on churches today are not true.

“Don’t be easily taken in by the SMSes you receive,” he told reporters after visiting the Metro Tabernacle in Desa Melawati here, which came under attack Friday.

Besides this church, the others attacked were the Assumption Church and Life Chapel in Petaling Jaya.

Meanwhile, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan, who accompanied Hishammuddin on the visit, said in the latest case, members of the public found several broken bottles in the church compound and burnt marks on its walls.

He also said police had some leads on the suspects who attempted to torch the Metro Tabernacle Church, but had yet to firmly establish their identities.

“A witness who is also a security guard is assisting us in identifying the individuals responsible,” he said.

He also advised churches to step up security measures at their premises despite police patrols being increased.

Musa said since he gave out his handphone number on Friday, he had received over 800 SMSes and almost 1,000 calls from the public which were not only related to the church issue but also on criminal and illegal activities, besides praise on the good job the police were doing in handling the sensitive church issue.

He, however, reminded the public not to take advantage of the situation by making nuisance calls because cases like the church issue were very serious matters and should not be taken lightly. — Bernama