By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, Oct 24: A 12-year-old boy was among the 31 suspects arrested in a major police crackdown on an online network producing and distributing child sexual abuse material (CSAM) in a nationwide joint operation codenamed ‘Op Pedo’.
According to the Malay Mail, Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Mohd Khalid Ismail said the 31 suspects—all males aged between 12 and 71—included teachers, engineers, graphic designers, chefs, school and university students, and unemployed individuals, with 30 of them being Malaysians and one a foreign national.
The operation, carried out by the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM), through its Criminal Investigation Department (CID), with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), also uncovered more than 880,000 digital files.
“The operation ran from Sept 22 to 30, 2025, simultaneously across 37 locations nationwide, involving 206 officers and personnel from 14 state contingents, PDRM, and MCMC.
“As a result, 31 suspects were arrested out of 37 targets, comprising 25 primary targets and six follow-up arrests,” he said during the Op Pedo press conference in Kuala Lumpur today.
He said that 17 suspects have already been charged in court, while 14 others were released on bail.
At the same time, he said that 82 digital devices were also seized, including computers, mobile phones, modems, and storage drives.
He said investigations revealed that the suspects accessed and traded explicit materials through Telegram, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, the dark web, and cloud storage sites—some even acted as Telegram group administrators, offering paid access to CSAM using e-wallet and QR code transactions.
“One 17-year-old suspect was found to have earned RM76,000 within the first nine months of 2025 from distributing child sexual abuse material online.
“This shows that the spread of such content has gone beyond individual deviance—it has become a commercial activity motivated by profit. That’s a very dangerous development, especially when we’re seeing teenagers actively participating,” he said. — DayakDaily
