Police have detained a man for allegedly raping a Form One student who he befriended through the Wechat social website.

Seberang Perai Tengah district police chief Nik Ros Azhan Nik Abdul Hamid said the suspect, aged 37, was arrested at a shopping centre in Perai yesterday, while believed to be waiting for another victim, whom he also befriended through Wechat.

He said the arrest was made following a report lodged by the 13-year-old alleged victim.

Nik Ros Azhan said police seized a phone from the suspect, which they believe was used to send messages to his victims using the Wechat application.

“The suspect claimed he sold medicine for breast enlargement, and sometimes claimed he is a woman and asked the buyer to take photographs of their breast.

“After that, he’ll get the buyer to meet him at the shopping centre and if they refused, threatened to spread images of their breast,” he said, adding that the victims would then be taken to an empty shophouse where he allegedly raped them.

Nik Ros Azhan said the suspect, in remand for six days to facilitate police investigation, also claimed that he had raped three other girls using the same modus operandi.

As such, he urged those who had fallen victim in such a scam to lodge police reports.

On another development, he said police detained two men, aged 25 and 26, for alleged housebreaking and motorcycle theft.

Police arrested them, who were on a motorcycle after they were seen behaving suspiciously at Taman Sejahtera in Bukit Mertajam at about 3.40am yesterday and seized several housebreaking tools from them, he said, adding that both of them had previous criminal records.

- Bernama