Photo shows the gutted coupon booth at Jalan Simpang Tiga.
KUCHING: The police are probing what appears to be a series of arson attacks over the past few days targeting the city’s coupon parking payment booths.
District police chief ACP Abang Ahmad Abang Julai said 19 booths located across the city have so far been targeted, including two which were totally razed by fire.
“All of the booths had firecrackers thrown inside which caused the windows to shatter. Two of the booths, located at Jalan Simpang Tiga and in the compound of Kuching South City Council (MBKS), subsequently caught fire and sustained 90 per cent damage.
“The motive or person(s) behind these acts of mischief remain unestablished. All of the incidents happened at night or early in the morning when there were no witnesses present,” he said when contacted yesterday.
Among the affected booths under the jurisdiction of MBKS were the ones located at Jalan Stutong, Tabuan Jaya, Jalan Ban Hock, Jalan Datuk Abang Abdul Rahim, Jalan Padungan, King’s Centre, Jalan Chan Bee Kiew, Yoshi Square commercial centre in Pending, RH Plaza commercial centre at Taman BDC, Taman Hui Sing, as well as the Twin Tower and Rock commercial centre along Rock Road.
Three other damaged booths were found to be under the jurisdiction of Kuching North City Commission (DBKU), namely at Green Road and Jalan Rubber/ Jalan Nanas, with the third located within the compound of DBKU itself.
Meanwhile, state Fire and Rescue Department assistant director of operations Farhan Sufyan Borhan said firemen were summoned to put out fires at eight booths beginning just after midnight on Sunday.
“The first case was at Padang Pasir, along Jalan Masjid, on Jan 29 at 12.37am. This was followed by three cases the following day and four more early yesterday. The last incident we responded to was the coupon booth at Jalan Simpang Tiga at 5.07am,” he said.
A check yesterday morning found several of the targeted booths, which were not badly affected, being manned as usual by parking attendants, while moderately-damaged ones were unable to receive payment as the fire had damaged their electrical system.
Several parking attendants, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they only knew about what had happened when they returned to work yesterday morning after having been off since the first day of Chinese New Year on Saturday.
They also claimed of hearing similar incidents happening over the past years, but not to the scale which happened this year.
Police have classified the investigation under Section 435 of the Penal Code as causing mischief using fire or explosives.