The people of Philippines are known as one of the most hard working nations at home and overseas. However, the country is suffering from poverty and unemployment. The easy way to earn money for some is to step into the cyber-sex industry and nationals of countries like Australia, United Kingdom, and the United States are taking full advantage of the situation.
Stephen James Sheriff, who is a 46 years old Australian has been arrested by the Queensland Police’s ARGOS Child Abuse and Sexual Crime Group after he was found to be sending money to a mother who had been involved in sending videos of her daughters being sexually abused.
The arrest: It has been reported that the mother was sending the videos to Sheriff for the past five years when her daughter was only 10. It was now, after five years, that the mother was caught live-streaming her daughter’s video.
The mother was receiving money from the Australian pedophile for doing so. When the girl was rescued, she stated that she was praying for all of this to stop. This was, however, not the only arrest. Police in the Philippines also raided a center point for the cybersex community in a house in the Iligan city, situated on the Mindanao island.
Up to five perpetrators were caught who were sending sexually explicit videos of children who were aged two, six, eight, and 15.
An NGO recorded a video and obtained by Fairfax Media. The video shows the police hiding in an alleyway with guns trained on the target, reports The Courier Austalia.
The house contained a number of electronic devices that were being used to send the videos and images. One of the officials stated that these will be used to conduct forensic examinations and will thus help find the recipients of the content all across the world.
The suspects rounded up thus far will likely be sentenced to life imprisonment including the mother.
According to Jon Rouse, head of the task-force ARGOS, a branch of the Queensland Police Service, responsible for the investigation of online child exploitation and abuse:
“We are detecting it more because we are looking for it more,” he said, adding that Australians have been known to be involved in the online sexual exploitation of children for almost a decade. Asked whether the involvement of Australians was growing, Detective-Inspector Rouse said “it is already quite an established market”.
The rising cybersex community in the Philippines: According to the director of the International Justice Mission, Evelyn Pingul, the problem of child sexual abuse is becoming a major issue in the Philippines, which is the poorest in all of Asia.
He said that it needs to be stopped and that victimized children need to be rescued. A call for more resources was also made by Samson Inocencio, the national director of IJM.
Australia’s established cybersex industry: Australian authorities believe that many Australians have been associated with such child abuse for more than a decade and that it is a well-established market.
This is clear from the fact that Fairfax media had been able to spot other Australians who have been buying online sexual content from the Philippines.
Also, Philippine’s police had uncovered another child abuse case that was linked not only to Australia but Canada and Europe as well, as part of an overseas undercover operation and have in custody a 53-year-old American.
Watch 10-Year-Old Filipino Virtual Girl “Sweetie” Takes Pedophile To Prison In Australia
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