Federal police secretary Noorsiah Saaduddin said the suspect used social media to communicate with his victims – all children from overseas – and coerced them to provide him with pornographic materials.

She said the arrest was the result of close cooperation between the police and the US Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).

The arrest was carried out by a team from the police’s sexual, women and children crime investigation division (D11).

The suspect will be brought to the Seremban magistrates’ court today to be charged under Section 5 of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017, which carries a punishment of not more than 30 years’ jail and whipping for each charge upon conviction.

He will also be charged under Section 10 of the same Act, which carries a punishment of not more than five years’ jail and a fine of not more than RM10,000 or both, for each charge.

It was reported in May that international authorities provided the police with more than 90,000 IP addresses of suspects involved in sharing child pornography over the internet from 2017 to March this year.