Three persons who reportedly offered videos on sexual exploitation of children for a fee have been arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation in Taguig City.
The identities of those arrested were not disclosed by the NBI in its statement.
But it said they have been charged with violations of Republic Act (RA) No. 11930, the Anti-Online Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children; RA 9208, the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003), as amended by RA 10364 and RA 11862; and RA 7610, the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation, and Discrimination Act.
The NBI said the suspects were arrested last July 11 during an operation conducted by agents of the NBI’s Anti-Human Trafficking Division (NBI-AHTRAD) in Tipas, Taguig City.
It said its agents were accompanied by officers of the NBI’s Digital Forensic Laboratory (NBI-DFL) and the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) in implementing a Warrant to Seize, Search, and Examine Computer Computer Data (WSSECD).
“Results of examination turned positive on Subjects’ cellular phones,” it also said.
The NBI said it acted on “a report and case referral from Destiny Rescue International regarding the alleged sexual exploitation of young children committed by a certain a person who appeared to be in the Philippines and is offering live sexual exhibition involving two-year-old child in exchange for a fee.”
Destiny Rescue International is a global non-profit organization with a mission “to rescue kids from sexual exploitation and human trafficking and to help them stay free.”
Posing as a private individual, an NBI agent was “able to establish communication with the Subject who was offering toddlers of seven to eight years old.”
“From fifty (50) CSAEMs (child sexual abuse and exploitation materials) sent by the Subject, there were videos showing a toddler being sexually abused by her mother,” it said.
“Using several numbers in his accounts, Subject was offering sexual live shows in exchange for a fee,” it also said.
Thus, it said, WSSECD was secured for the conduct of an entrapment operation, it added.