KUALA LUMPUR – Johor police have arrested a school bus driver who posted videos of primary school students, who are his passengers, on his TikTok account.
Johor police chief M. Kumar said that the 24-year-old man was arrested at 2.57am in Simpang Renggam today by personnel from the criminal investigation department of the Kluang Police headquarters.
The arrest was made after police received a report on him and his mobile phone was seized.
The suspect is currently being investigated under the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 for watching and communicating with a child repeatedly with sexual intentions, an offence punishable by imprisonment not more than 10 years, a fine not exceeding RM20,000, or both.
He is also being investigated under the Child Act 2001 for disseminating photos of children through electronic devices, which is punishable by imprisonment not more than five years, a fine not exceeding RM10,000, or both.
“Police welcome cooperation from the parents of children in the videos to assist with investigations.
“Members of the public, especially parents, are advised to keep an eye on their children’s emotional and physical development so that acts of sexual crimes against children could be detected sooner and criminals could be brought to justice,” said Kumar in a statement.
The Johor top cop also reminded the public not to abuse social media to commit unlawful acts.
Those with more information on the case can contact the Johor police hotline at 019-2792 095, Kluang district police at 07-7766 822 or Kluang district police’s operations room at 014-365 6822
The bus driver, who had more than 600,000 followers on TikTok would call these children “crush” and his “beloved”.
One of his TikTok posts has gained 22.4 million views, while his other posts also had a high number of views, “likes”, and “favourites”, indicating that his account is popular on the platform.
Almost all of the videos show him driving the bus while recording the children, whose faces were exposed. Some of the videos showed him touching the children who seem to be mostly young girls.
His behaviour has drawn public concern, with many urging the parents involved to file a police report.
Yesterday, Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri responded to the issue, saying that the bus driver’s behaviour is “not accepted and should not be normalised”.
She has also instructed the Children’s Development Department under her ministry to lodge a police report and announced that her side is ready to assist the police’s sexual, women and child investigation division (D11) with their probe. – September 6, 2024
