JOHOR BARU: A religious book was burnt by an angry thief after he failed to open a safe containing a collection box at the Surau Al-Hidayah, Jalan Pertanian, Taman Universiti, Skudai here on Tuesday.
The act of vandalism was discovered by a nearby resident who passed the surau area at 2.10am and found one of the doors and grills wide open.
“The man (inspected the surau) and found that the mobile fan unit was missing, copies of the Quran and Yassin were scattered, and some large shelves and clocks were also moved from their original position,” Johor Baru North deputy district police chief Supt Beh Eng Lai said.
The man also found several burnt sheets of paper he believed to be from the Quran near the passage to one of the bathrooms. He then lodged a police report for further action.
Beh said that further checks found that the burnt papers were not from the Quran as initially suspected, but had been ripped out of a religious book.
He said it is believed that the thief burnt the religious book when he failed to get his hands on the money in the collection box in the safe, which bore marks indicating it had been tampered with.
The case is being investigated under Section 380 of the Penal Code for stealing in the building, and Section 427 of the Penal Code for mischief, Beh added. -- BERNAMA