Latest cyber crime linked to 'Messiah'

SINGAPORE- The theft of data belonging to Standard Chartered Bank's clients is the latest cyber crime to be linked to James Raj Arokiasamy, the alleged hacker behind "The Messiah" pseudonym.

A police spokesman said yesterday that files containing data on the British bank's clients were found in a laptop seized from James Raj after he was arrested.

The 35-year-old was nabbed about a month ago by Malaysian police at his rented flat in Kuala Lumpur. He jumped bail in 2011 after he was arrested for drug offences that year, and was on the run until his arrest on Nov 4.

James Raj has since been charged in Singapore with four drug offences.

He also faces one charge under the Computer Misuse and Cybersecurity Act for allegedly hacking into the Ang Mo Kio Town Council website on Oct 28.

The Attorney-General's Chambers also indicated to the court repeatedly that he is believed to be involved in other recent cyber intrusions here. These include creating and posting a video threatening a wave of cyber attacks to protest against licensing rules for news websites here, while hiding behind "The Messiah" moniker.

The police are looking into the video, which threatened to "go to war with" the Government.

A district court on Tuesday denied him bail and ordered for him to be remanded in police custody for further investigations.

He is set to return to court on Jan 7 for a pre-trial conference.

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