Saturday, April 13, 2013

On-Line Traffickers Arrested


Inquirer Technology writer Nancy C. Carvajal  provides a report about the arrest of three people in Manila, Philippines who were accused of running an on-line prostitution and human trafficking operation by the National Bureau of Investigation. The “members-only” website was used to set up trafficking victims with their “members”.  The undercover operation joined the web-site as a customer and gathered evidence which led to the arrest of the three suspects, who are all being detained under charges of child abuse and violation of anti-trafficking laws. 

The news of yet another arrest of perpetrators who profit from the degradation and suffering of other humans is not the reason I chose this article.  Arrests like this are occurring all the time across the globe as the fight against human trafficking continues.  What caught my attention was the fact that the alleged ringleader was using the internet to run his business.  Most people who hear stories of trafficking, myself included, often think of girls and children being lured or kidnapped from the streets and transported to other countries as sex slaves. With so many young people having access to the internet, the risk of getting caught into this web of deceit is high.  So many kids are lured from home with promises of a better life that police all over the world have to now patrol “cyperspace” as well as protect the real streets of communities. Since pornography is rampant on the internet, I should not have been surprised that business like this would be too.  It means to me that traffickers will use any means possible to exploit others-and that there are people all over the world willing and able to pay for their “services”.

What a sad, sad world we live in.

Shannon Yaw
4/13/13  5:55pm

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