New charges for two men in obscene Telegram group
Two of the four men accused of transmitting obscene material in the SG Nasi Lemak Telegram chat group faced new charges in court yesterday.
Liong Tianwei, 37, one of the alleged administrators of the chat group, faced three new charges of transmitting pornographic material by electronic means.
Another alleged administrator, Leonard Teo Min Xuan, 26, faced an additional charge of possessing pornographic material in his electronic devices on Oct 14.
He will be remanded at the Institute of Mental Health for a psychiatric observation.
The chat group, believed to have up to 44,000 members when it was still active, was used to share obscene photos and videos of women and came to light after several police reports were made.
BAIL
Liong and Teo had earlier been charged with transmitting pornographic materials in the chat group between January and October, this year.
Liong's lawyer had asked for bail but the prosecution objected.
They argued Liong had been uncooperative with investigations and had refused to give access to his electronic devices and should continue to be remanded.
District Judge Adam Nakhoda agreed, and ordered Liong to be further remanded for investigations.
The other two accused, teenagers Justin Lee Han Shi, 19, and Abdillah Sabaruddin, 17, who had allegedly transmitted obscene materials, are each out on $5,000 bail.
The four were arrested on Oct 14 at various locations islandwide, and more than 10 electronic devices, including a central processing unit, a laptop, a hard disk and several mobile phones, were seized as case exhibits.
Liong will return to court on Oct 29, while the other three will return next month.
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