Online predator held after Taiwan tip-off

> Jobless youth believed to have lured 40 children to strip for him over the internet

KUALA LUMPUR: A 20-year-old jobless youth, who was detained here two weeks ago for the possession of child pornography following a tip-off by Taiwanese police, is believed to have lured almost 40 children aged between nine and 13 to strip for him in the cyberspace.

The youth is said to have engaged his victims through social chat and online gaming websites before befriending them.

He allegedly lured his victims to pose in the nude during video chat sessions which he discreetly recorded.

According to reports by a Taiwanese news portal, except for a 13-year-old Malaysian girl from Johor Baru, the rest of the victims were from Taiwan.

It was reported that the youth had shared the recordings for a fee with suspected paedophiles online and pornography websites.

For weeks, Taiwanese police tracked down the suspect in cyberspace before tracing the IP address of his internet connection to Malaysia.

Taiwanese police alerted police here before the suspect was detected in Jinjang.

He was arrested on Oct 14 by a team from the Kuala Lumpur police sexual crimes investigations division and remanded for investigations.

Police learnt the IP address the suspect had used was registered to his cousin.

Kuala Lumpur police CID chief SAC Rusdi Mohd Isa said yesterday that investigations are ongoing and materials seized from the suspect such as computers are being examined by forensics police for incriminating evidence.

He said police are working closely with their Taiwanese counterparts to solve the case.

Rusdi said the suspect was released on bail after his initial remand order of four days was extended twice.