A young man was arrested for allegedly pimping seven women and four men to a foreigner who turned out to be a police informant.
The suspect was detained at the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Central Visayas (CIDG) pending the filing of the complaint against him for violating Republic Act(RA) 9208 or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003.
RA 9208 prohibits the publication of the names of both suspects and victims.
In an interview, the man said it was his first time to engage in such a transaction.
The man said he is just 17 years old but the CIDG said he initially admitted he is already 18.
The man said he met the foreigner through a dating website where they chatted and exchanged mobile phone numbers.
The foreigner turned out to be an informant of the CIDG, which was monitoring the suspect at the request of the International Justice Mission, a non-governmental organization fighting human trafficking.
The suspect then uploaded several pictures of girls and boys to the dating website so the foreigner could choose who among them he would want to have sex with.
After the foreigner made his choices, the suspect told his client to meet with him up at a restaurant in Mandaue City and to bring P5,000 as payment.
The suspect, along with seven women and four men, arived at the restaurant at 9 p.m. on Friday and the CIDG agents pounced on him as soon as he took the money from the foreigner.
SPO2 Roel Leyson, one of the CIDG agents, said the 11 trafficked men and women were turned over to Department of Social Welfare and Development./CORRESPONDENT CHITO O. ARAGON AND INQUIRER