Red paint attack mars family gathering

IPOH: It was supposed to be a fun weekend for a family in Bercham, but things turned sour after their house and cars were splashed with red paint.

Chiang Leong Pan, 60, a technician, and his family were supposed to have a gathering when the incident occurred on Sunday.

“My aunt, who was visiting, woke me up around 9am and told me about the red paint.

“Together with my aunt’s car, all three vehicles were splashed with red paint and some of it got on the gate and wall.

“There were also two pieces of paper glued on the wall. It had my house address, my daughter-in-law’s name and phone numbers written with a black marker.

“We believe one of the phone numbers belonged to the loan shark. The words ‘Last Warning’ were written in red,” he told a press conference organised by the Perak Barisan Nasional Public Service and Complaints Centre chief Mohd Rawi Abdullah here yesterday.

Chiang said he had lodged a police report.

“We tried to contact our daughter-in-law but failed. Even my son didn’t know her whereabouts. Both of them have been working in Singapore for the past seven years.

“The last time I saw her was in June during my mother’s funeral.

“There are four of us staying in the house including my wife, son and our year-old grandchild whose mother allegedly borrowed the money.

“I am worried and scared for my family. We didn’t borrow the money, so why is the loan shark coming after us?” he lamented, adding that his daughter-in-law used to work as a promoter.

Mohd Rawi said he had handled many similar cases lately.

“The modus operandi of such cases is more or less the same. Borrowers usually get the loan sharks’ number on social media and after exchanging personal information including details of the guarantor, the money will be wired to them right away.

“When the borrowers fail to pay, the loan shark will go after the guarantor, which is what’s happening right now.

“We will write to Bukit Aman regarding this issue, but I would like to advise the public to stop borrowing money from loan sharks. Instead, borrow from licensed operators,” he said.