International child ‘cybersex' ring in the Philippines busted

'Cybersex dens' in the Asian nation served virtual abusers around the world through chat rooms, authorities say, and 'every link in the chain' will be investigated. Many Flipino children are sold by relatives to the pedophile network.

BY Carol Kuruvilla

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Thursday, January 16, 2014, 4:58 PM

Desperate Filipino parents in the impoverished slum of Ibabao took their children to this cybersex den, where they were forced to engage in sexual acts in front of a webcam.

Authorities have uncovered “cybersex dens” in the Philippines that streamed live child sex abuse to paying pedophiles around the world.
The dens were part of an international pedophile ring that investigators in the U.K., U.S. and Australia have been trying to bust since 2012. Twenty-nine people have already been slapped with charges, according to Britain’s National Crime Agency, including 11 Filipinos who helped organize the abuse in impoverished communities.
But the investigation, code-named Operation Endeavor, casts a wide net, seeking to attack “every link in the chain” — from the parents who offer up their own children as virtual sex toys, to the abusers sitting in chatrooms and making skeevy requests.
"This investigation has identified some extremely dangerous child sexual offenders who believed paying for children to be abused ... was something they could get away with," said Andy Baker, deputy director of the NCA's Child Exploitation and Online Protection command. "Being thousands of miles away makes no difference to their guilt. In my mind, they are just as responsible for the abuse of these children as the contact abusers overseas.”
Fifteen Filipino children, ranging from age 6 to 15, have already been rescued. But authorities suspect there may be hundreds more.

Uncredited/ap British citizens Thomas Owen (left) Timothy Ford were members of an organized pedophilia group who are now behind bars.

A BBC reporter visited a cybersex den in Ibabao, a slum in the southern part of the country. The small house had already been raided by police. A dirty mattress was still on the floor and electric sockets were hanging from the ceiling.
"Fathers and mothers would bring their children here to show, and would get paid by the owner of the house," local police officer Denis Comunay said.
The NCA estimates the pedophile network paid over $60,000 to abuse children.
The virtual abusers try to justify these cybersex sessions and the “cottage industry” they’ve created by insisting that they never have physical contact with the children, says Noemi Truya-Abarientos of the Children’s Legal Bureau. But she doesn’t see this as a valid excuse, since the psychological effects of the abuse are very real.

BBC Footage shows police raiding a 'cybersex den' house in the Philippines.

"The client gives the instruction to touch this and touch that,” Truya-Abarientos told the BBC. “They even send sex toys to these children.”
Lani, a Filipino teen, said she was pushed into the cybersex industry by her aunt.
"Perhaps when people hear about cybersex they think it doesn't have any physical effect," she told the BBC. "But it can do things to your core. It can take things from you, your dignity and your purity."
Seventeen of the arrested suspects were British citizens. Five have already been convicted.

Dan Kitwood/Getty Images The National Crime Agency says 17 British citizens have been arrested as a result of the bust.

One of those people is British man Timothy Ford. He inadvertendly helped launch the global investgation after police found child pornography and records of wire transfers on his computer.
He had allegedly paid as little as $21 to watch children engaged in sex acts. Ford had plans to buy property in the Philippines. He wanted to set up an Internet cafe. The man is now serving eight-and-a-half years behind bars.
Three separate investigations into similar cases are also underway. In total, the NCA has identified 733 suspects in Australia, the U.S., France, Germany, Canada, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Taiwan, Denmark and Switzerland.http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/authorities-bust-international-child-cybersex-ring-article-1.1582268http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/authorities-bust-international-child-cybersex-ring-article-1.1582268