Police have revealed a troubling possibility that a syndicate involving child pornography had a hand in the kidnapping of 6-year-old Leo Jia Hui on July 20.
According to NST, a total of five people were arrested in connection to the case but the motive for the kidnapping has yet to be established.
Child porn ring might be involved in kidnapping, say police
Speaking to reporters, Johor police chief Commissioner M. Kumar said investigations are now being focused on one of the suspects after sex toys and explicit material involving children were found at his home in Kulai.
The suspect is also believed to be part of a child pornography ring on the Dark Web.
For the uninitiated, the Dark Web is a part of the Internet that isn’t widely available to web browsers and is often used to carry out illicit activities like drug trafficking, trading of weapons, and dissemination of child pornography.
Kumar said that he cannot divulge details of the ongoing investigations, he described what was found at the suspect’s house as “heinous”, adding that police wanted to probe further after rescuing Jia Hui.
From day one, this case did not sit right with me. We kept digging deeper (after the suspects were arrested). We’ll conclude our investigations soon before we bring the suspects to justice.
Suspect rearrested on Sunday
Yesterday (Aug 4), the 31-year-old suspect was nabbed for a second time not long after he was released on police bail.
This comes after police found a stash of sex toys, adult pornography, and child sexual abuse materials (CSAM) at his home.
During his first arrest, the suspect was remanded for seven days, but it was extended for another six days to facilitate investigations under Section 365 of the Penal Code and Section 14(a) of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017.
He is now being probed under Section 10 of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 for accessing or possessing child sexual abuse materials, which carries a five-year jail sentence, a fine of up to RM10,000, or both.
He’s also facing investigations under Section 292 of the Penal Code for possessing obscene materials, which is punishable by up to three years in prison, a fine, or both.
Read more about it here:
