Child porn cases rise during MCO

Cases involving child pornography are reported to have increased during the movement control order (MCO) period.

Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department director Huzir Mohamed, who will retire today, said a total of 45 cases were reported during the MCO period (from March 18, 2020 to April 29, 2021), an increase of 27 cases compared to 18 cases before the implementation of the MCO (from Feb 18, 2019 to March 17, 2020).

He said it also involved child grooming without physical contact namely by using words or showing obscene sexual acts either in audio and visual form to children, which increased by 24 cases compared to 53 cases before the MCO.

“The widespread use of social media is believed to be a contributing factor to these cases,” he said when contacted by Bernama.

Meanwhile, Huzir said a total of 12,330 criminal cases against women and children and sexual crimes were reported during the implementation of the same period of MCO, down by 5%, compared to 13,023 cases before the enforcement of the MCO.

Apart from that, he said domestic violence cases showed an increase of 9% compared to before MCO (6,003 cases).

“The main causes that contribute to the increase in domestic violence cases are quarrels (between husband and wife) due to financial problems, drug abuse problems and stress (believed to be due to loss of income,” he said.