Senior Citizen Among 13 Men Arrested Under Op Pedo In Six States - IGP

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 24 (Bernama) -- A senior citizen was among 13 men arrested on suspicion of committing online sexual offences involving child sexual abuse material (CSAM) through Op Pedo yesterday.

Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Razarudin Husain said the 74-year-old suspect and 12 others were arrested during a joint operation with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) in six states, namely Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Perak, Johor and Terengganu.

He said in the operation which began at 9pm, 18 teams comprising officers from the Sexual, Women and Children Investigation Division (D11), Technical Assistance Division (D6) and Bukit Aman Police Forensic Lab (D10) and the contingent, as well as MCMC officers inspected 18 premises in the six states.

"An inspection of various information communication technology (ICT) devices and equipment belonging to the 13 suspects revealed the existence of about 40,000 CSAM and adult pornographic materials," he said when contacted by Bernama today.

Apart from the discovery of the 40,000 CSAMs, Razarudin said the police also seized seven sets of computers, 11 mobile phones, nine routers, seven modems and one laptop, DVD and hard disk each.

"All the suspects were arrested under Section 10 of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 and possession of obscene material under Section 292 of the Penal Code.

"Of the 13 suspects arrested, five would be remanded for four days, four remanded for three days and two remanded for one day with all remands starting today while the other two were granted police bail," he said.

He added that 13 investigation papers were opened for the offence of possession of CSAM under Section 10 of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 and the offence of possession of pornographic material under Section 292 of the Penal Code.

He also advised the public, especially teenagers and children, to increase self-control, maintain moral boundaries and social manners online to avoid becoming victims of crime and report any online abuse to the authorities.

-- BERNAMA