KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 18 (Sin Chew Daily) — Darren Chan, founder of online dating platform Sugarbook, has been arrested by the police.

The police will take him to the court in Shah Alam to apply for a remand order.

Selangor Criminal Investigation Department chief Datuk Fadzil Ahmat confirmed that the Selangor criminal investigation team and the Shah Alam criminal investigation team arrested the 34-year old suspect at a condominium in Mont Kiara at 4.30pm Wednesday.

"The suspect admits that he is the founder of Sugarbook. upon the arrest," he said.

The police will apply for a remand order to investigate the case for publishing or circulating statements, rumors or reports with the intention of causing public fear, sharing of offensive content on social media and prostitution.

Fadzil said the police received a total of 74 reports lodged against Sugarbook across the country.

A website identified as SeekingArrangement revealed that Malaysia ranked third in Asia after India and Indonesia for having 42,500 sugar daddies.

Online dating portal Sugarbook claimed that since the implementation of Movement Control Order 2.0, the number of university students registering as sugarbabies with the website surged by 40%.

The police started investigation following a report lodged by an institution of higher learning.