Police mull bringing back Huckle to face trial in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian police may seek an extradition order to have convicted British paedophile Richard Huckle brought back to face trial for crimes against victims here.
"If he has committed any crime here then he should face charges here. We will refer our findings to the Attorney-General's Chambers which will decide on this," Deputy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Noor Rashid Ibrahim (pix) told theSun yesterday.
He said police will not sweep the case under the rug just because Huckle had been convicted by the British criminal court.
"We are working closely with British police to ascertain the identities of Huckle's Malaysian victims. We also need to know if the 71 counts of sexual assault he was charged with in UK included his Malaysian victims.
"He cannot be charged twice for the same offence but if there are grounds to proceed with court action, we will do so."
Asked why police were silent on the case for almost two years although they were notified about the case by British police when Huckle was detained in London in 2014, Noor Rashid said the British National Crime Agency (NCA) had only shared minimal and sketchy information on Huckle's string of sexual crimes.
"Although we were notified, the NCA for fear of jeopardising investigation and the court trial of the case, only agreed to disclose detailed information after sentence was passed on Huckle by the British court. We were not given in-depth details about Huckle and his crimes," he said.
Noor Rashid said it is believed the NCA had not sought further assistance from Malaysian police as the British authorities had gathered sufficient evidence of Huckle's sexual assaults on his victims in the form of video footages, photographs and confessions which was enough to mount charges and convict the paedophile.
A foreign wire news report quoted NCA deputy director Andrew Brennan as saying on Monday that the British had informed Malaysian authorities of Huckle's case in November 2014 and shared "all the information and all of the intelligence" they had on Huckle at that time.
The British High Commission also told the news agency in a statement on Tuesday that it had engaged in the case with Malaysian police since 2014.
In the wake of these statements, several organisations and politicians hit out at police here for their alleged inaction.
Voice of the Children welfare group chairman Sharmila Sekaran said if it is true the police were informed in 2014, then there has surely been a delay in providing them with the help and counseling they need.
"Most significant of course is the failure of the authorities in detecting Huckle's actions earlier. He has been reportedly abusing our children from 2005 till 2014. Why did we not know of this earlier and why did we not detain him?" she asked, adding that those responsible need to do some serious soul-searching.
PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar said if indeed the Malaysian authorities had failed to take action since 2014, then an immediate investigation must be launched.
"A serious breach of security of our borders, religious institutions and havens for underprivileged children had taken place and we must never allow this breach to be repeated," she said.
Meanwhile, federal police CID director Datuk Seri Mohmad Salleh urged all quarters to respect the privacy of the victims and their families and enable the rehabilitation process for them to be carried out unhindered.
"Any form of revealing the identity of the victims is an offence under Section 15 of the Child Protection Act and offenders face imprisonment of up to five years or a RM10,000 fine or both if found guilty," he said.
Mohmad said none of the Malaysian victims affected in the assaults have come forward to lodge police reports against Huckle.
Those with any information about the case should contact the federal police sexual crimes unit (D11) at 03-22666297.
Huckle, described by British police as the most "prolific paedophile" they have ever encountered, was sentenced to life imprisonment where he will spend at least 23 years in jail.
The Briton had posed as a volunteer teacher and reportedly raped and molested almost 200 children aged just months to 13 years old in impoverished communities in Malaysia, Cambodia and India.