Deputy inspector-general of police Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay said the suspects, aged between 26 and 49, were nabbed on March 20 as part of Operation Cyber Guardian.
He said Singaporean police had assisted in the arrests by providing Bukit Aman with the internet protocol addresses of the four men.
“The suspects in this case comprise a civil servant, an accountant, a web designer and a WiFi installation instructor,” he said at a press conference at Bukit Aman here today.
Ayob said the suspects had obtained the CSAM through peer-to-peer interaction on social media platforms before storing it on their personal hard drives or devices.
Four investigation papers were opened under Section 10 of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017 for accessing CSAM, and Section 292 of the Penal Code for possessing obscene material.
He said one suspect pleaded guilty in the Petaling Jaya magistrates’ court to a charge under Section 292 and was issued a RM3,000 fine. This suspect has another charge pending.
Another suspect was slapped with a RM6,000 fine after pleading guilty in the Shah Alam magistrates’ court to a charge under the same section.
The other two suspects are still being investigated.
Ayob urged the government to mandate telecommunications companies and internet service providers to keep a record of their subscribers’ IP addresses for at least two years.
He said investigations were hindered by difficulties in obtaining information on the suspects who used dynamic IP addresses and virtual private networks.
“Even though the Singaporean police provided us with 20 IP addresses, we could only raid four addresses because the telcos and ISPs failed to retain the details (of the others),” he said.
He also said there was no law that required telcos or ISPs to retain subscribers’ data, with companies only retaining such data for three to six months based on their policies.
Operation Cyber Guardian led to the arrest of a total of 435 suspects across the six countries involved.
CNA reported that 21 suspects were arrested in Singapore for alleged involvement in online child sexual exploitation activities.