Singapore—The Singapore Police Force announced in a press release on Tuesday, October 15, that four men have been arrested due to their suspected involvement in the circulation of obscene material via a chat group on the messaging app Telegram called SG Nasi Lemak.
The youngest of the individuals arrested is only 17 years old. Another among the men arrested is also a teenager, age 19.
As early as March of this year, the police had already begun to receive reports against SG Nasi Lemak for allegedly sharing pornographic material through Telegram.
Police officers from Ang Mo Kio Police Division determined the identities of the men arrested via investigations they carried out over the past few months. These men were arrested on October 14, Monday, in different parts of the country, and appeared in court via video link the following day, where the charges were brought against them.
Charged in court were 17-year-old Abdillah Sabaruddin; 19-year-old Justin Lee Han Shi; 26-year-old Leonard Teo Min Xuan, and 37-year-old Liong Tianwei.
The investigations of the police have shown that Leonard Teo Min Xuan and Liong Tianwei are the administrators of the Telegram group, while the two teenage men are distributors of the obscene material. Police officers have seized over 10 electronic devices, including a central processing unit, a laptop, a harddisk and several mobile phones, as case exhibits.
The four men were charged with conspiracy to commit distributions of obscene materials, under Section 292(a) read with Section 109 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224.
They have each been charged with one count of transmitting obscene materials by electronic means. Messrs Lee, Teo, and Liong have been accused of committing the offence between January and October 2019. And on October 5, Mr Abdillah was said to have shared an explicit picture of two naked women.
If they are found guilty, the men may receive a jail sentence of up to three months, be fined, or both.
The police force included an appeal in its statement. “Members of the public are advised to stop soliciting in any lewd website or joining such online platforms and illicit chat groups. The Police takes a serious view of anyone involved in criminal activities and will continue to take tough enforcement actions against those breaking the law.”
On October 4, the police said they were investigating SG Nasi Lemak, due to suspicions that nude photos of Singaporean women, allegedly including upskirt pictures, were being shared in the chat group.
Chinese daily Lianhe Wanbao showed screenshots that the group had 44,000 members when it was still active, although by then it could no longer be accessed. Members allegedly had to pay a S$30 entry fee to become part of the group.
On September 30, netizen Darcel Anastasia @DarcelAnastasia tweeted that one of her photos had been shared on “the infamous sg nasi lemak group chat”, which caused more people to know about the existence of the group. She then made an appeal for netizens to identify the sharer, writing, “if y’all know who this dolt is, please let me know!! thank you”/ TISG
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