Singapore—Twenty-six-year-old Leonard Teo Min Xuan, one of the four men accused of sharing obscene photos of Singaporean women and girls on the innocuously-named chat group SG Nasi Lemak, is now also believed to be part of another chat group, SharingIsCaring, on the messaging app Telegram. This group is also suspected to be sharing pornographic material.Mr Teo, who was reported to be the administrator of SG Nasi Lemak, now has two charges brought against him—one count of transmitting pornographic material by electronic means, as well as an additional charge of possessing pornography on his electronic devices.
The Asia One news website reported that police have been alerted to and are investigating SharingIsCaring, which is said to also be distributing photos of young girls in their school uniforms riding on the MRT, as well as more explicit material. Tips on how to take pictures without getting caught are also shared on the platform.
Whether or not SharingIsCaring is still active is yet to be determined, due to the secret channel setting of the group.
AsiaOne was told by an anonymous source that Mr Teo had been invited to join the group before his October 14 arrest. The source provided AsiaOne with screenshots of Mr Teo’s interactions within the group, where he is called a “hero” by commenters and is told to not “worry about moles here.”
In response to such flattering comments, Mr Teo wrote, “I feel like I’ve been knighted.”
Mr Teo, who had been known as @LeoTeoMX on Instagram and Twitter, and Leonard Teo Min Xuan (张旻轩) on Facebook, seems to have deactivated his profiles on social media. But TODAY Online was able to gather details about him before he deactivated his accounts, wherein he was listed as a freelance actor, dancer, skater, and musician.
He is currently in police custody for psychiatric observation and is scheduled to appear in court again on November 5.
Police announced on October 15 that four men were arrested due to their suspected involvement in the circulation of obscene material via the chat group on Telegram. The youngest of the individuals arrested is only 17 years old. Another one of the men arrested is also a teenager, age 19.
As early as March 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; 37-year-old Liong Tianwei, 37, and Mr Teo.
The investigations of the police have shown that Mr Teo 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 hard disk, and several mobile phones, as case exhibits.
The four men were charged with conspiracy to commit distribution 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.
By Friday, October 18, the two teenage men were handed an additional charge in court. Messrs Abdillah and Lee were given an additional charge of having obscene materials on their electronic devices such as mobile phones, although documents from the court did not disclose what these materials were.
They were accused of committing the offenses earlier in October. / TISG