A man has been detained after going up to a homeless man sleeping on a bench in the Guangdong city of Dongguan and setting his blanket on fire.

Surveillance footage from the early morning hours of January 11 shows the man use a lighter to set the vagrant’s quilt ablaze. The fire burns and spreads for more than a minute until police officers walk by and wake up the homeless man.

A few minutes later, the fire-starter, who had been watching from afar, returns to the scene of the crime, pretending to a witness.

He was instead arrested after police took a look at the surveillance footage. The man claimed that he was only “teasing” the homeless guy who suffered second-degree burns to his legs in the incident.