KUALA LUMPUR – Police have received nearly a hundred thousand internet protocol (IP) addresses suspected to contain child pornography from international authorities over the past six years.
However, due to lack of manpower there have not been as many arrests and investigations into the matter.
Bukit Aman Sexual, Women, and Child Investigations Division (D11) principal assistant director Siti Kamsiah Hassan had told Bernama that since 2017 up to March this year, police have received 93,359 IP addresses suspected of being involved in child pornography.
The information was shared to Malaysian authorities by Interpol, America’s Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children.
Siti Kamsiah explained that following the lack of trained personnel to sift and study the data given to them, only 103 IPs were investigated, leading to the arrest of 50 individuals.
“The information that we received have been looked through by the Malaysia Internet Crime Against Children (Micac) D11 investigation unit that only has three officers with the rank of inspector.
“Therefore, D11 hopes that we will quickly receive the funds and the extra manpower that was announced by the government in Budget 2022. This will ensure that this division will play a more effective role when it comes to crimes involving children,” she said.
At the tabling of Budget 2022, Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz told the Dewan Rakyat that an allocation of RM13 million and 100 new vacancies will be given to D11 to ensure that any form of violence or crime against women and children will be addressed.
Siti Kamsiah said that the D11 working paper for the allocation had been submitted to the Public Service Department last March and her side is waiting for what they hope will be a positive response.
From the allocation, her department plans on establishing a Micac in each police contingent with a minimum of one investigating officer instead of the trio based in Bukit Aman at the moment.
Furthermore, those who visit, upload and download child pornography are increasing each year.
“Based on the information we received, in 2017 there were only 46 IPs suspected of being involved in these activities and it increased to 2,660 IP addresses in 2018.
“The following year (2019) saw it increase to 9,017 addresses, in 2020 it went up to 18,508 addresses, 2021 saw 48,752 addresses and as of the first three months of this year, there are 14,385 new addresses.
“The number of arrests also saw an increase where in 2017 to 2019 only two individuals were arrested. It increased to 22 individuals in 2020 and 24 individuals last year. Meanwhile, in the first three months of this year two individuals were arrested for child pornography,” she said.
The fact that the trend is increasing is extremely worrying.
In fact, international enforcement agencies have offered to help Malaysian police to increase their enforcement activities to put a stop to it.
“Therefore, it is crucial to strengthen D11 and Micac units now, in terms of staffing and equipment, so that more data related to these activities can be analysed and subsequently lead to the arrest of those involved,” she explained.
Siti Kamsiah said that the arrest of a 41-year-old paedophile from Lundu, Sarawak who was sentenced to prison for 48 years and 15 strokes last year is an example of an arrest made through the information sharing system.
“The paedophile didn’t just upload child pornography on the dark web but had admitted to molesting and sexually abusing children since he studied at a local university in Selangor in 2022.
“He also admitted to sharing his foul deeds with other paedophiles on the dark web, leading other paedophiles to follow suit,” said Siti Kamsiah. – Bernama, May 15, 2022
