LAW enforcement operations targeting the American clients of the cybersex den the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7 found operating here in Cebu City have begun in the US.
Atty. Medardo de Lemos, NBI chief, in an interview with Sun.Star Cebu, said federal agents are carrying out the raid based on information the US embassy sent to Cebu last Tuesday.
“It’s very fast because of the technology. They have custody of receipts and the hard disks of the computers we seized,” de Lemos, NBI 7 director, said.
The receipts contain records of credit card payments made by clients of the cybersex den to the money transfer account of Archie Abala, one of the two persons arrested during the raid Monday last week.
Clients
He allegedly had recruited the minors, one as young as eight years old, to work in the cybersex den.
Abala allegedly recruited them upon the specific request of some clients.
The hard disks, on the other hand, are believed to have temporary internet files, which may contain embedded videos of the clients.
NBI operatives raided a suspected cybersex den in Barangay Suba Monday last week.
Four minors, two aged 17, one aged 12 and the youngest, 8, were rescued following the operation that resulted in the arrest and indictment of two people.
City Prosecutor Nicolas Sellon, acting on the recommendation of inquest prosecutor Ernesto Narido Jr., found probable cause to indict Stella Lopez and Abala for trafficking in large scale. No bail is set.
Evaluation
“A circumspect evaluation of the evidence shows that it is sufficient to support a finding of probable cause for the charge,” Narido’s two-page resolution read.
A separate preliminary investigation proceeding will also be held against a third respondent, Alfredo Fernandez, whom the NBI raiding team was not able to arrest.
He reportedly is the live-in partner of Lopez and co-owner of the house and internet café used as front of the cybersex den.
The rescued minors were turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development, while the respondents were committed to the Cebu City Jail.