Shah Alam district police chief Iqbal Ibrahim told FMT the police are awaiting further instructions from the AGC.

“The investigation paper is with the deputy public prosecutor’s office. We are waiting for their (further) instructions,” he said.

On Feb 22, the case was referred to the AGC, and the police were subsequently instructed to carry out further investigations by obtaining a report from the forensics department on the suspect’s mobile phone.

When contacted, lawyer-activist Rajesh Nagarajan lamented the delay in action being taken.

“It’s been more than two months since we lodged the police report. This is too slow,” he said.

On Feb 15, the police dismissed a claim that no action had been taken since a report was filed on the alleged torture of the baby long-tailed macaques.

Corporate communications head A Skandaguru said investigations were ongoing and the suspect had already been identified.

The police statement comes after animal rights group Hak Asasi Hidupan Liar Malaysia (Hidup) said the police had not acted on a report they filed on Jan 20.

Hidup filed the report on the alleged torture of baby long-tailed macaques after receiving a tip-off from animal welfare groups, Lady Freethinker from the US, and Action for Primates from the UK.

The perpetrator had allegedly recorded the torture of the primates and sold “teasers” of the videos on a Telegram group named “Monkey Haters”.

Calling the videos “torture porn”, Rajesh said the footage showed the monkeys being mutilated, dismembered, hit with blunt objects, burned, boiled and skinned alive.

He also said the perpetrator charged a fee if anyone in the Telegram group wanted to watch the full videos.