Cop arrested in continuing war on human trafficking

OZAMIZ CITY—Police announced the arrest of a policeman and another suspect during a raid on a cybersex den in Katipunan, a town of over 43,000 people, in Zamboanga del Norte on Tuesday.

Senior Supt. Edwin Wagan, Zamboanga del Norte police director, said five women were also rescued during the court-backed raid, which was conducted in Barangay Tuburan around 9 p.m.

He said the raiding team, composed of several police units, raided a house being rented by PO2 Joel Belleno amid reports the house was being used for human trafficking.

Belleno and his suspected partner in the cybersex business, Amelito Jake Jr., were inside the house during the raid, which was backed by a search warrant issued by a regional trial court in Dipolog City.

Wagan said the raiding team also found five women inside the house and seized computers and other gadgets used in the cybersex operation. Four of the women were from nearby towns while the fifth hailed from Kabasalan, Zamboanga Sibugay.

Duped

Wagan said when interviewed by the team, led by Senior Insp. Romar Lim, one of the women revealed that she was looking for work and was promised a job as a sales staffer but ended up stripping in front of a web cam.

The other girls, she said, suffered the same fate.

Another victim, Wagan said, revealed that they used to operate in a house in nearby Manukan town but had to transfer to Katipunan as their bosses wanted to evade detection by authorities.

The woman said in Katipunan, it would be easy for Belleno to protect the operation as he was stationed there.

Based on the victims’ narration, the women were paid P4,500 per month by working in two shifts. One shift starts at 8 a.m. and ended at 6:30 p.m., with a one-and-a-half hour break from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The graveyard shift is from 8 p.m. to 6:30 a.m., with a two-hour break from 10 p.m. to midnight.

Wagan said information from the women raised suspicion that the Katipunan cybersex den could just be one of the illegal activities of Belleno and his cohorts.

Belleno and Jake are currently being held at the Zamboanga del Norte police’s detention cell in Dipolog City while the rescued women had been entrusted to the police’s Women and Child Protection center.

War on trafficking

The Katipunan cybersex den was the latest to be busted as authorities clamped down on human trafficking in Mindanao.

Last year, 12 minors, aged 6-17, were also rescued from a suspected cybersex den in Iligan City while five suspected operators were  arrested.

Also last year, an American and his Filipino partner were also arrested in Davao City on suspicion of operating a cybersex den.

The campaign against cybersex dens and human trafficking in Mindanao got a boost when last year, a Cagayan de Oro court sentenced to life in prison two Swedes arrested there in 2009 for operating a cybersex den.

Bo Stefan Sederholm, 31, and Emil Andreas Solemo, 35, were each sentenced to life imprisonment while their Filipino cohorts—Andrea Romero, Arvy Baylon and Aminoding Rangaig—were sentenced to each serve 20-year prison terms. Ryan Rosauro, Inquirer Mindanao