5 cyberporn traffickers arrested, 11 minors rescued in Cebu

These women are among seven females aged 20 to 30 years old who are now being held by the police on anti-human trafficking charges after they were caught using children as young as two years old in cyberpornography during separate operations in the cities of Lapu-Lapu and Cebu on March 21, 2019. |IJM Photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines – Police arrested five suspected human traffickers, and rescued 11 minors allegedly being used in cyberpornography, including a two-year-old, during three simultaneous anti-human trafficking operations in the cities of Lapu-Lapu City and Cebu on Thursday, March 21.

Ia statement, the International Justice Mission (IJM) reported that all the suspects were women, whose ages ranged from 20 years old to 30 years old.

Enforcers from the Philippine National Police (PNP) Women and Children Protection Center-Visayas Field Unit (WCPC – VFU), and Lapu-Lapu City Police Office, together with the Central Visayas offices of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD -7) and Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT), conducted entrapment operations on two houses in Lapu-Lapu City.

They caught the suspects in the act of offering livestream videos of minors about to be sexually abused in front of online sexual predators.

IJM said seven of the victims were rescued in Lapu-Lapu City while the rest were rescued during a follow-up operation in Cebu City. The victims, ages 2, 6, 7, and 12, are now under the custody of DSWD-7./elb