Malaysia Crime Watch

17 February 2010
George Town

Large quantities of pirated DVDs and related equipment worth more than RM10 million were seized by police during a raid on a shop along Macallum Road at 3pm. 7 men, including three from Myanmar, were arrested.

Police found 200,000 pieces of DVDs, 10 DVD duplicators and a special machine believed to have been imported. It is believed that each duplicator could create 1,000 DVDs per hour while the special machine could produce 6,000.

The piracy syndicate would use the shop to produce the DVDs and then distribute them over Penang, Kedah, Perlis and Perak over the past two months.

The Star Online – RM10mil worth of pirated DVDs and tools seized
<URL:http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/2/17/nation/20100217195339&sec=nation>

Technorati Tags: malaysia crime, malaysia, crime, george town, macallum road, piracy, pirated dvd, dvd duplicator

4 February 2010
George Town

19 men, including a 65-year-old grandfather, were arrested at a massage parlour and a fitness centre which were believed to be gay joints. The raid was conducted by police at a shopping complex around 10pm.

Police said among those arrested, 7 men were local customers, 10 were suspected to be sex workers from Thailand, Vietnam, China, Bangladesh and Myanmar, while 2 were caretakers of the outlets. Posters, towels and tubes of lubricant were also seized.

The two outlets were closed down a few months ago, but resumed their operations recently. They would hire foreign workers with social visa permits.

Although customers were given a password to enter the premises and closed circuit television cameras were in place, police managed to force a customer to reveal the password and raided the outlets.

The case is being investigated under Section 377(B) of the Penal Code for committing carnal intercourse against the order of nature, Section 6(3)(c) and Section 39 (b) of the Immigration Act.

The Star Online – Grandpa held in raid at gay joint
<URL:http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/2/4/nation/5611822&sec=nation>

Technorati Tags: malaysia crime, malaysia, crime, george town, massage parlour, fitness centre, gay joint, sex worker, prostitution, carnal intercourse against the order of nature, immigration act

4 February 2010
Muar

Three underaged suspects have pleaded not guilty in court for setting fire to two surau, or Muslim prayer centres, on 21 January 2010. One of them was also charged with lodging a false police report.

Magistrate Lydiana Mansor mentioned that the two 17-year-old and one 16-year-old suspects will be referred to Juvenile Court.

Under Section 436 of the Penal Code, all three were charged with causing mischief by fire with the intent to destroy Surau Silatulrahim along Jalan Ismail and Surau Parit Beting along Jalan Salleh between 12:30am and 1am and between 2am and 3:15am respectively.

One of them was charged under Section 182 of the Penal Code for providing false information to the police at the Muar police headquarters at 3:54am on the same day.

Deputy public prosecutor Umar Saifuddin Jaafar requested the court to set bail at RM20,000 each. Magistrate Lydiana set bail at RM20,000 each and an additional RM5,000 for the false report charge.

The youths face a maximum jail sentence of 20 years and a fine if convicted for the first offence, while the youth charged with making the false report faces an additional 6 months of jail time or a maximum fine of RM2,000 or both.

Their cases have been set for 6 April 2010 for mention.

The Star Online – Surau attacks: Three teens plead not guilty
<URL:http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/2/4/nation/20100204180005&sec=nation>

New Straits Times Online – Teenagers charged over surau fires
<URL:http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/articles/6ron/Article/index_html>

Technorati Tags: malaysia crime, malaysia, crime, muar, surau, arson, causing mischief with fire, false report, surau silatulrahim, surau parit beting