Hong Kong police arrest 2 teenage boys accused of setting fire to door curtain, pillow outside schoolmate’s flat after dispute
- Police and fire crews sent to Lei Muk Shue Estate in Tsuen Wan over fire outside 11th-floor flat early on Monday
- Neighbour saw two boys, both aged 14, using cigarette lighter to burn items in public corridor, according to police
Police and fire crews were sent to block three of Lei Muk Shue Estate on Lei Shu Road, Tsuen Wan, when the blaze broke out outside the 11th-floor flat before daybreak on Monday. The suspects’ 13-year-old schoolmate – a Form Two student – lives in the public housing flat with his parents.
According to police, a neighbour saw two teenage boys using a cigarette lighter to burn items outside the flat in the public corridor.
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Neighbours doused the flames before emergency personnel arrived. Police said no casualties were reported and no evacuation was required.
A police spokesman said the flat’s door curtain and a pillow were damaged in the blaze.
Officers combed the area and found the two boys at the estate within an hour.
“The two boys were intercepted on a basketball court outside the public housing block. A cigarette lighter was found in the possession of one of them,” the spokesman said.
He said an initial investigation suggested the pair, both aged 14, had a dispute with their 13-year-old schoolmate over his attitude.
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Police arrested the two boys on suspicion of arson – an offence that is punishable by up to life in prison under the Crimes Ordinance.
The three boys attend the same secondary school. One of the suspects is in Form One the other in Form Two.
Detectives from the Tsuen Wan criminal investigation unit are following up the case.
In a separate case, police arrested a 14-year-old girl and two boys, both aged 18, in a hotel room in Tsuen Wan at about 8pm on Sunday after discovering HK$50,000 (US$6,385) worth of illegal drugs.
Police said 33.6 grams of suspected cocaine were found along with packaging equipment, such as an electronic scale and plastic bags.
The trio were arrested on suspicion of trafficking in a dangerous drug – an offence that carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and a HK$5 million fine.
According to official statistics, the number of young people aged 10 to 20 arrested for various crimes dropped by 10.7 per cent to 2,222 between January and October last year from 2,489 in the same period of 2021.
Figures show 234 young people in this age group were arrested in connection with deception in the first 10 months of last year, a 40 per cent rise from 167 in the whole of 2021.
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Between January and October last year, 257 young people were apprehended for serious drug offences.
In a written reply to a question on juvenile crimes by lawmaker Tang Fei in a Legislative Council meeting on January 18, security chief Chris Tang Ping-keung said police had noticed young people might be lured into engaging in illegal activities by lawbreakers under peer influence or in the hope of earning “quick cash”.
He said the activities included drug trafficking, drug abuse, illegal debt collection, and lending bank accounts to others for illicit purposes.
The minister stressed police would step up intelligence-led enforcement actions, especially against lawbreakers who exploited young people to commit crimes on their behalf.
