WINNIPEG (CBC) - Police have arrested two girls after houses were vandalized and burned in a new housing development in northeast Winnipeg in early May.

Windows were smashed and walls kicked in at a house on John Mann Place, in the Harbour View South neighbourhood in East Kildonan, on the evening of May 2, causing about $3,000 in damages.

A fire was then set in a nearby house on the same block, causing $200,000 damage to that building and $10,000 damage to the house next door.

After an investigation by the arson strike force, police picked up two girls, 12 and 14 years old, who live near the new development.

The girls have no prior record of criminal activity, but they have been reported in the past as missing persons, said police spokesman Const. Blair Good.

"I believe one of them told investigators that they had actually intended on burning another house, but they had left prior to doing that," Good said.

The girls, who cannot be identified under the provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act, were both charged with breaking and entering and arson. They are being held in custody.

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