British police in coordination with Australian and US counterparts broke a Philippine paedophile ring that has been live streaming child abuse in the internet. The investigation has identified some extremely dangerous child sexual offenders who paid for children to be sexually abused.
Fifteen children aged between 6 and 15 have been rescued in a raid in Angeles City in the Philippines and several parents were arrested. Extreme poverty, the increasing availability of high-speed Internet and the existence of a vast and comparatively wealthy overseas customer base has led to organized crime groups exploiting children for financial gain. The Philippine government estimated that between 60,000 and 100,000 Filipino children had experienced sexual exploitation, many of them in cybersex. Mandaue City in Cebu has been reported to be the “epicenter” of the cybersex trade.
A police officer led the group to a “cybersex den”— a small house that was almost empty except for a dirty mattress on the floor and electric sockets hanging from the ceiling. Fathers and mothers would bring their children there to show, and would get paid by the owner of the house. The property owner forced her own children to “perform” for foreigners using a webcam.
Other people in the neighborhood who heard there was money to be made brought their children there too. The Australian Federal Police said it had executed six search warrants under the international operation that had led to the arrest of three Australians. (Reports from AFP)