JOHOR BAHRU: The public can use social media to provide information to help the police track down criminal suspects but they should never take the law into their own hands, said Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed.

He said public awareness on the positive use of social media could create fear among those intending to commit crime but that the public should leave it to the authorities to investigate criminal matters and take action against the offenders.

“Whatever evidence on an incident can be made viral to assist the police in their investigations,” he told reporters after handing over Parent-Teacher Association aid to schools in the Pulai parliamentary constituency here today.

He said this in response to a recent case involving a lorry driver who was assaulted by a group of men at a condominium car park in Bukit Antarabangsa here. The lorry driver was assaulted after he accidentally reversed his vehicle into a parked Mercedes Benz, breaking the car’s registration number plate in the process.

The incident, that took place last Saturday, drew the ire of netizens, when a video of the assault went viral on social media including information on the car registration number.