ALOR STAR: Police arrested two men in connection with the recent arson incident at the foodcourt of Alor Star public market.
State acting police chief Datuk Zakaria Yusof said the duo were arrested on Saturday, a day after the incident.
He confirmed that the incident had a connection with the incident whereby a mentally-ill man had allegedly burnt several torn pages of Al-Quran near the market last Thursday.
Zakaria said police had also rounded up five men who had beaten up a trader at the market, in his 50s, in an apparent case of mistaken identity following the first incident.
"We have also a cell phone belonging to one of them which was used to record the assault incident and a Toyota Hilux which was reported stolen in Klang, Selangor in 2008," he said in a Press conference at the state police headquarters here today.
He added that all suspects had been detained under remand while the mentally-ill man is being warded at the Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital's psychiatric ward.
"I want to stress that there is no such thing as religious or racial in connection with the incident and we are urging the public to stay calm, do not take the law in their own hands," he said.