KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) – Police in Malaysia said Saturday that they have arrested seven boys suspected of starting a fire at an Islamic boarding school that killed 23 people because students there had allegedly teased them.
Speaking in a televised press conference in Kuala Lumpur, Police chief Amar Singh said the boys, aged 11 to 18, had been detained Friday night after investigators obtained CCTV footage from a neighboring building.
The blaze at a three-story “tahfiz” school, where Muslim boys study and memorize the Quran, blocked the lone exit to the dormitory, trapping students behind barred windows. Two adults and 21 teenage students were killed.
Singh said that six of the seven boys had tested positive for drugs. Two of the boys had been detained before, one on charges of vehicle theft, another for rioting, he said.
Singh gave no details on how the suspects had allegedly been mocked by students at the dormitory.