SINGAPORE: After the home of a Johor Bahru man was firebombed, he said that he believes it was caused by moneylenders from whom his son had tried to borrow money.
However, The New Straits Times reported that the man’s son, who works in Changi Airport, claimed that he never received the S$30,000 he had sought to borrow, but the loansharks claimed they had sent the money to his account and were demanding S$10,000 in interest.
The threats, including those to his family, began when the moneylenders demanded a payment of S$7,000. Because of the recent firebombing incident, the family is now living in fear.
Firebombing
According to 58-year-old Jalan Kemajuan resident Hoo Chong Kang, he heard a noise in the early morning hours of Dec 6 (Saturday). When he went to check on what had made the noise, he saw bits of glass as well as burn marks on his front yard, which Mr Hoo thinks came from a Molotov cocktail.
He told NST that CCTV footage showed that someone had thrown an object into his compound and two people on a motorcycle stopped in front of his house before the firebomb went off.
Mr Hoo, who also expressed how shocked he was at the incident, added that the men had put up a notice on the gate post with his son’s name, telling him he needs to pay his loan back at once.
Dealing with loan sharks
He then reached out to his son, who admitted that he had some dealings with moneylenders, who had at first pretended to be a legitimate financial company. This led the son to disclose personal and family information.
Because the son had never received the loan, he told the moneylenders that he was canceling it. However, the loan sharks insisted that the money had been transferred, and began to hound him for repayment as well as threaten him and his family.
Mr Hoo added that if his son reported the matter to the police, the loan sharks would attack him.
NST added that the man said the family is “being harassed to the point that (they) cannot live in peace,” and Mr Hoo has told his wife and other family members to stay elsewhere until the issue is resolved.
Moreover, his health has been affected because he’s been barely able to sleep at night due to the fear of his house getting targeted again. He has since filed a police report and hopes that the loan sharks will get caught. /TISG
