A person allegedly engaged in online sex trafficking of minors has been arrested in Angeles City by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
In a statement, the NBI identified the arrested suspect only as “Caronan” who has been charged with qualified trafficking under Section 6 of Republic Act No. 9208, the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003, as amended, in relation to the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.
The suspect was arrested during an entrapment operation conducted last May 18 by agents of NBI in its Pampanga District Office (NBI-PAMDO) in cooperation with the operatives of the 301st Special Mission Group of the 300th Air Intelligence Security Wing of the Philippine Airforce.
The NBI said it acted on “information received by NBI-PAMDO alleging that an individual who was later identified as Subject Caronan is offering the sexual services of minors in Angeles City, Pampanga using a ‘dummy’ Facebook account in a Facebook Group.”
“A series of online surveillance operations conducted by NBI-PAMDO confirmed the information that the facilitator would send to potential clients nude photos of minor victims to entice them to avail themselves of the sexual services of minors in exchange for P3,000 up to P10,000,” it said.
It noted that prior to the arrest, NBI-PAMDO managed to contact “Caronan” on Facebook and made a transaction for two minors.
It said that “Caronan” arrived at the agreed place driving a scooter with a minor-looking female as back rider.
“Subject told the undercover agents that his companion is a minor and the one being offered for sexual services,” it said.
“Upon handing over of the marked money as payment to the minor sex worker, NBI-PAMDO operatives immediately put Subject Caronan under arrest,” it added.