Its deputy minister, Nur Jazlan Mohamed, said the ministry would hold discussions with the relevant agencies on the matter soon.

“The ministry will discuss with the relevant ministries and agencies to assess the need for a special Sexual Predators Act, such as the one in the United Kingdom.

“The aim is to investigate and prosecute paedophile sexual offenders even if they have committed the crime in other countries,” he told Bernama.

He said the ministry found that most pedophile sex offenders engage in the activities outside their country.

“The sexual offenders are found carrying out their activities outside their home country to avoid legal action, which is currently not cross-border effective,” he said.

Meanwhile, Nur Jazlan said MOHA would work with the National Crime Agency in the United Kingdom to detect the activities of paedophiles in Malaysia.

“The exchange of information and close cooperation of various international police agencies needs to be improved, and we must amplify the role of non-governmental organisations and raise the people’s awareness against sexual offenders,” he said.

On Monday, British pedophile Richard Huckle was sentenced to life imprisonment by a court in London for molesting 23 children and babies in Malaysia and Cambodia, in almost a decade.

Reuters reported that Huckle, 30, was sentenced to 22 life sentences and would be in jail for at least 23 years for the crimes he committed against victims who came from poor families, aged between six months to 11 years.

Huckle pleaded guilty to 71 of 91 charges against him, as police found more than 20,000 pornographic images of children on his computer and his camera when he was arrested at Gatwick Airport, London in 2014.

The British media reported that Huckle, a freelance photographer, may have committed sexual abuse against up to 200 children aged between six months to 12 years, from 2006 to 2014.

— BERNAMA