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Loan sharks warn teens with bomb
By Vivien Chan
May 28, 2009
HE borrowed $500 from loan sharks, but was late in repaying it.
When the 18-year-old teenager finally paid up a few days after the deadline, he was told that his debt had snowballed to $8,000.
On the day when he failed to pay back his loan, someone threw two plastic bags of kerosene into the compound of his family's three-storey terrace home at Valley Road in Serangoon area.
It was supposed to be a warning.
Two days later, on 1 Apr, two of the loan shark's runners came by and threw Molotov cocktails into the compound, causing a fire near the front door.
The family managed to put out the fire and no one was injured.
Molotov cocktails, which are also known as petrol bombs, are usually bottles filled with fuel. They are ignited before being thrown.
A police spokesman said the police received a call at about 6am about a fire and investigations are ongoing.
No arrests have been made so far.
When The New Paper visited the 18-year-old's home on Monday night, his family members declined to comment.
A middle-aged man, who did not want to be identified, said: 'This case is a serious and sensitive matter, and it's been handed over to the police.'
He added that nobody was injured in the incident.
The teenager's guarantor is a 17-year-old secondary school student whose father, Mr Yin, 46, told Lianhe Wanbao that his home had also been targeted.
The contractor told Lianhe Wanbao that the loan sharks had locked his family in , and splashed paint outside their Hougang flat.
He said that he called the loan sharks to explain that it was not his son who borrowed the money, but they did not care.
Mr Yin then contacted the 18-year-old's parents, and both families made a police report.
He said of the Molotov cocktail incident: 'Luckily, they live in a terrace house, so the petrol bombs did not get into the house, but only caused a fire on the walkway.'
He said that a shoe rack that was near the main door was burnt.
Mr Yin said that it was not his son's first brush with loan sharks.
He revealed that his son was involved in online gambling some time ago, and had borrowed a few hundred dollars from another loan shark.
When he was unable to pay up, the interest went up and Mr Yin ended up having to pay more than $8,000 to clear his son's debt.
To stop his son from borrowing again, he confiscated his handphone.
Mr Yin said: 'After I confiscated his phone, the loan shark sent a message to my son's phone to tempt him to borrow money again.
'These loan sharks are just using ignorant kids to make money. It's too much.'
Additional reporting by Han Yongming, newsroom intern
Loan sharks warn teens with bomb
By Vivien Chan
May 28, 2009
HE borrowed $500 from loan sharks, but was late in repaying it.
When the 18-year-old teenager finally paid up a few days after the deadline, he was told that his debt had snowballed to $8,000.
On the day when he failed to pay back his loan, someone threw two plastic bags of kerosene into the compound of his family's three-storey terrace home at Valley Road in Serangoon area.
It was supposed to be a warning.
Two days later, on 1 Apr, two of the loan shark's runners came by and threw Molotov cocktails into the compound, causing a fire near the front door.
The family managed to put out the fire and no one was injured.
Molotov cocktails, which are also known as petrol bombs, are usually bottles filled with fuel. They are ignited before being thrown.
A police spokesman said the police received a call at about 6am about a fire and investigations are ongoing.
No arrests have been made so far.
When The New Paper visited the 18-year-old's home on Monday night, his family members declined to comment.
A middle-aged man, who did not want to be identified, said: 'This case is a serious and sensitive matter, and it's been handed over to the police.'
He added that nobody was injured in the incident.
The teenager's guarantor is a 17-year-old secondary school student whose father, Mr Yin, 46, told Lianhe Wanbao that his home had also been targeted.
The contractor told Lianhe Wanbao that the loan sharks had locked his family in , and splashed paint outside their Hougang flat.
He said that he called the loan sharks to explain that it was not his son who borrowed the money, but they did not care.
Mr Yin then contacted the 18-year-old's parents, and both families made a police report.
He said of the Molotov cocktail incident: 'Luckily, they live in a terrace house, so the petrol bombs did not get into the house, but only caused a fire on the walkway.'
He said that a shoe rack that was near the main door was burnt.
Mr Yin said that it was not his son's first brush with loan sharks.
He revealed that his son was involved in online gambling some time ago, and had borrowed a few hundred dollars from another loan shark.
When he was unable to pay up, the interest went up and Mr Yin ended up having to pay more than $8,000 to clear his son's debt.
To stop his son from borrowing again, he confiscated his handphone.
Mr Yin said: 'After I confiscated his phone, the loan shark sent a message to my son's phone to tempt him to borrow money again.
'These loan sharks are just using ignorant kids to make money. It's too much.'
Additional reporting by Han Yongming, newsroom intern
