Two operators of candid camera hexacopter surrender

Two men who operated the hexacopter with a candid camera, which videographed the houses of MCA Youth chief Wee Ka Siong and his neighbour in Bukit Tiara in Kuala Lumpur recently, surrendered themselves to the police yesterday.

According to Sin Chew Daily, Kuala Lumpur Criminal Investigation Department chief Ku Chin Wah (left) said the pair were the men who appeared in one of the video recordings, showing them adjusting the candid camera. 

Cheras OCPD Mohan Singh was also quoted by the Chinese daily as saying that the two were being detained to facilitate investigation.

Mohan said police would call a press conference to reveal more details.

Earlier, Wee revealed thevideo footage retrieved from the candid camera, saying that the hexacopter was found by one his neighbours, a 14-year-old boy, on the rooftop balcony of his house on Aug 8.

It was speculated that this could have been linked with talk that has been widely spread on Facebook, saying that Wee's house is worth RM6 million.

Wee was quoted by the daily as saying that Ku informed him of the surrender of the men, via SMS, and he hoped that the police would investigate their motive and get the mastermind, if there was one.

Police: Two released on bail

Meanwhile Bernama today reported that police have recorded the statements of the two men, one of whom is a photographer who owned the hexacopter, while the other a mechanic who repairs hexacopters and who had installed the camera.

The report quoted Mohan Singh (right) as saying the two, aged 39 and 47 years, had denied any links to any political parties.

Instead, they claimed they were unable to trace the remote helicopter after it went missing during a test flight and they only became aware that it had been found through media reports.

Mohan also reportedly said police have reviewed the recordings from the camera affixed to the hexacopter and investigations were now complete.

The two have been released on bail today and Mohan said the decision to charge the duo under Section 448 or 504 of the penal code now lies with the public prosecutors.

According to the national news agency further, Mohan explained that hexacopters were sometimes used by developers to obtain aerial shots of construction sites.

Wee not satisfied

Even so, Wee today took to Twitter to express his displeasure with the explanation provided by the Cheras police chief on the use of the machine for aerial photography for commercial purposes.

“This is ridiculous and if such a silly excuse can be accepted by the authority, then anybody can simply buy a hexacopter to conduct spying jobs and use the excuse (that it is) for hobby or commercial purposes,” he tweeted.

Wee said police should probe the reason why the two owned “so many hexacopters as captured in the video” and why a bridal photographer from Kluang was linked to the case.