AAP was apprehend at his house in Bekasi, West Java, on July 16, the directorate chief Sr. Cmr. Iwan Setiawan said.

AAP and the child allegedly knew each other through an online game on Facebook. After exchanging phone numbers, they apparently continued their conversations on WhatsApp. AAP allegedly persuaded the child to engage in a sex video call.

“During that first video call, AAP recorded it without [the child's] consent,” Iwan said on Monday as quoted by kompas.com.

After the child discovered the video call had been recorded, the child reportedly refused every time AAP asked to do more. Reacting to the rejections, AAP allegedly threatened the child, saying that he would publish the video if the refusals continued.

The child’s family then filed a report with the police on June 26.

Iwan said the suspect was in a WhatsApp group with more than 100 members where he allegedly shared videos involving minors several times, one of which was with the 9-year-old.

“He had posted the video to the group. According to our investigation, the group has about 100 members,” Iwan said.

AAP is being accused of committing similar acts for at least a year with at least 10 children, who were mostly under the age of 15.

His pattern, Iwan claimed, began with a chat on the Facebook game, proceeded to private conversations on WhatsApp and ended with sex video calls.

AAP has been charged under the Article 27 of the 2008 Electronic Information and Transactions (ITE) Law, which carries maximum punishment of 15 years of prison time upon conviction. (vla)