Twelve Nepali were detained for questioning by the Judiciary Police (PJ) on Monday for sharing a child porn video on Facebook, and 10 of them admitted to committing the crime, PJ spokesman Cheong Kam Fai said during a special press conference yesterday.
The 12 suspects are Nepali nationals aged between 23 and 47. Among them, 11 are security guards and one is a 27-year-old prison guard.
According to Cheong, the Judiciary Police received a notice from Interpol on August 11 that some people in Macau were suspected of sharing a child porn video on Facebook between April and May in Macau.
PJ officers discovered that some people were sharing a two-minute-29-second-long video of an underage foreign girl having oral sex and sexual intercourse with a man. PJ officers later identified the 12 suspects’ occupation and addresses. The officers went to two security companies where the suspects work and flats where they live in the city centre and the northern district on Monday morning, and took them in for questioning. PJ officers also seized 12 smartphones that were allegedly used to share the child porn video, according to Cheong.
According to Cheong, 10 of the 12 male suspects admitted to committing the crime and claimed that the video had been received through Facebook Messenger and then forwarded to their friends. The other two suspects refused to cooperate. However, according to information reported by Interpol, it is confirmed that they are also involved in the case.
Cheong said that based on the background and people involved in the video, it is believed that the video was filmed outside Macau. The suspects shared the video with compatriots and friends in Macau, and therefore the video was widely circulated. Cheong said PJ officers would continue to investigate other possible child porn videos being circulated in Macau and those who filmed the videos.
The suspects were transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) yesterday, facing child pornography charges, according to Cheong.
Meanwhile, the Correctional Service Bureau (DSC) said in statement yesterday that the bureau was highly concerned about the case and deeply regretted a Nepalese prison guard’s suspected involvement in the “crime of pornographic material involving a minor”.
The statement pointed out that an internal disciplinary investigation procedure has also been launched so that the perpetrator will be held disciplinarily accountable in accordance with the law. Any staff member who breaches the law or regulations faces the full weight of the law, the statement said.
Yesterday’s case is the second of its kind involving non-resident workers from Nepal. On August 24, 11 Nepalis were detained for questioning by the Judiciary Police for sharing a two-minute-29-second-long video child porn video on Facebook, and seven of them admitted to committing the crime, a PJ spokesman told the media at that time.
Informed sources told The Macau Post Daily last night that the video in the two cases is the same one.
The 12 hooded child porn suspects from Nepal are escorted by Judiciary Police (PJ) officers from the PJ headquarters in Zape to a vehicle yesterday. Photos: Iong Tat Choi
Twelve smartphones seized from the suspects are displayed during yesterday’s special press conference about the case in the pressroom of the Judiciary Police (PJ) headquarters.
