Malaysian man posing as security guard forced woman to perform ‘indecent act’: police

A Malaysian man has been arrested over allegations he posed as a security guard to rob a young couple in a car park in Kuala Lumpur before forcing the woman to perform “an indecent act”, police have said.\nWangsa Maju district police chief Assistant Commissioner Mohamad Lazim Ismail said a report was lodged on Wednesday after the alleged attack the previous night in Ayer Panas, Setapak, where the 19-year-old woman and her boyfriend were in their car eating burgers and recording a “mukbang challenge” video.\nAccording to Mohamad Lazim, the suspect approached and accused the pair of behaving “indecently” in the vehicle.\n“The suspect then took the identity cards of the victim and her boyfriend before forcing the victim to perform an indecent act with him,” he said in a statement on Saturday as quoted by The Star, adding that the alleged perpetrator fled with the couple’s phones.\nThe suspect, a 24-year-old local man, was arrested on Thursday in Kota Damansara, Petaling Jaya, and was remanded for seven days until Wednesday to assist investigations, Mohamad Lazim said.\nPolice are investigating the case under Section 392 of the Penal Code, which covers robbery, and Section 377C, a provision linked to sexual acts.\nSome media reports, citing Chinese-language coverage, alleged the suspect also forced the couple to buy perfumes totalling 260 ringgit (US$64) and that the ordeal lasted about five hours, though those details were not included in the police statement.\n\nThe case has also drawn attention to the suspect’s alleged tactic of confiscating the couple’s identity cards, a move authorities have repeatedly said private security guards are not permitted to do.\nAccording to a statement issued in June by Malaysia’s National Registration Department, security guards do not have the authority or right to request, hold or scan Malaysian identity cards, following a viral social media post that sparked questions about the legality of a guard using an electronic device to scan a MyKad, the country’s compulsory national identity card.\n“Any action by security guards to request or keep identity cards is against the law,” the department said, adding that only authorised officers – including police, customs and National Registration Department personnel – were permitted to inspect MyKad, along with on-duty military personnel and certain civil servants.\nMalaysian authorities have previously investigated incidents in which claimed enforcement authority was allegedly used to intimidate couples in cars, including a Johor case in August in which two security guards were arrested over allegations they impersonated police and demanded 2,000 ringgit from a couple.\n