IJM, Police Travel to Bring Rescue to Three Children
Summary:
In back-to-back operations, police caught two women who offered to sexually abuse children and livestream the abuse to customers abroad paying to watch online. The suspects’ smart phones, which police believe were used to broadcast the exploitation, were collected as evidence.
IJM’s team traveled a full day to support the operations, which took place on Saturday. Around noon, police arrested the first suspect—a mother who offered to livestream sexual acts involving her 10-year-old daughter in exchange for a payment from a foreigner online. As police arrested her mother, social workers rescued the girl, along with four other children who were found at the woman’s home.
As evening set, police moved to conduct a second operation, targeting a young woman who also offered two children to be sexually abused for foreigners online.
This weekend’s successful rescues were the first conducted by IJM’s anti-trafficking police partners, the Women and Children’s Protection Center of the Philippine National Police, on Samar Island. The rescued children are now safe and in the care of our social service partners, and IJM social workers will follow-up to ensure they receive the long-term care that they need.