Penang police have apprehended a rape suspect who they believe has been attacking under-aged girls since December of last year.
Finding his victims via the social media app WeChat, he would claim to be a woman when he sought out his young prey.
The 37-year-old man would pose as a plastic surgeon, offering the victims a free assessment if they obliged and sent him photos of their breasts. Young, naïve victims would then be blackmailed with the nude photos, with the suspect threatening to post them online, identifying them publicly.
Holding the explicit photos over their heads, he would then demand that the victims meet him at a local shopping mall in Prai, across the bridge on the mainland.
Using the same modus operandi, he would then lure his victims to an empty shop lot on the fourth-floor, and molest and rape them.
Shockingly, despite having attacked three separate victims, only one 13-year-old girl came forward to lodge an official police report in December 2017. The suspect admitted to having raped three other girls.
Police apprehended the man after he set his sights on a fourth girl, having told her to meet him in the same Prai mall this past Saturday. They were able to arrive at the scene in time and arrest the suspect. He is now in police custody.
