Federal police secretary Noorsiah Saaduddin said the suspect used social media to communicate with his victims 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 Investigation (FBI).

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

Apart from the laptop, the authorities seized an external hard drive, router and mobile phone belonging to the suspect.

The suspect will be remanded for four days until Dec 17.

The case is being investigated under Section 10 of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017, 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 is also being investigated under Section 292 of the Penal Code that relates to dealing with the sale, hire, distribution and public exhibition of obscene materials.

Those found guilty of the offence may be jailed for up to three years, or fined, or both, upon conviction.

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.