False crime news: Woman, brother-in-law held
Published on: Sunday, February 26, 2017
Sibu: A woman and her brother-in-law were arrested after they disseminated false crime news in the social media.The unemployed woman, aged 20, and her 45 year-old brother in law, who works as a government agency clerk, were arrested by CID team at Sibu Jaya police station at 12 noon Saturday.Prior to that, the duo from Sibu Jaya here were called to the station following a police report on a posting on the Facebook wall of the woman who uses a moniker Bini Wat Gandai, alleging a group of student thugs from a secondary school in Sibu Jaya had assembled illegally at Town Villa, Sibujaya to fight and commit violence.
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The posting made at 11pm on Thursday further added that the situation created a public nuisance to the residents of an apartment block in that area and asked the police to take immediate action. Accompanying the status were several photos showing civilians and students in school uniform.Sarawak CID Chief SAC Datuk Dev Kumar said a team of policemen were sent to the school Friday morning to investigate but found the information to be not true."Sarawak police will continue to take an uncompromising approach towards fake news and misinformation in the social media that can create unnecessary concern and fear among the community" he said here Saturday.
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He said despite wide media coverage of social media users being arrested for disseminating false crime news in Sarawak, some users seemed completely oblivious to the hardline approach taken by the police. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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He said both their mobile phones were seized for investigation purposes and the case is being investigated under Section 500 of the Penal Code and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.
