14 Children, Including Toddlers, Rescued Following Crackdown On Pedophile Ring

An investigation that stemmed from an arrest of an accused pedophile in Australia has busted an online sex abuse ring resulting in the rescue of 14 children, including toddlers in the Philippines, Australian Federal Police said Monday.

Philippines authorities rescued six girls and eight boys aged between 2 and 17 on May 7 after an investigation based on intelligence shared by Australian police, Australian Federal Police said in a statement.

In March 2021, the Australian police arrested a 68-year-old man from Victoria on charges of possession of child abuse material. The accused man faces 15 years of imprisonment. The police had seized a computer from him that had child abuse material and records of online chat conversations allegedly facilitating the “pay per view” child abuse content in the Philippines.

The Australian police said the investigation into the 68-year-old man was linked to an earlier arrest of a 67-year-old man who was charged for allegedly paying for live-streaming child abuse. The arrest had initially led to the rescue of nine children aged between two and 16. It was followed by the arrest of another woman by Philippine authorities, Otago Daily Times reported.

Based on the information, the police in the Philippines arrested three women and a man last week for facilitating online child sex abuse. The investigators also seized several child sexual exploitation materials, a sex toy and several money transfer receipts showing foreigners as senders.

The rescued children were moved to the local social welfare office.

“Our pursuit to rescue and protect children from online sexual exploitation will not stop until we have arrested the last trafficker and abuser doing this vile crime,” Brigadier General Alessandro Abella, Philippine National Police Chief of the Women and Children Protection, said.

“Our investigators are dedicated to protecting children in Australia from abuse and work with law enforcement across the world to do the same,” Todd Hunter, Australian Federal Police commander, said.

“Our message to offenders accessing or exchanging child abuse material online is that we will never stop trying to identify anyone involved in bringing harm to children and bringing them before the court,” he added.