Authorities uncover more cybersex dens in Lucena City

LUCENA CITY—Authorities have uncovered more than 10 cybersex dens catering to foreign clients in Lucena City, but most had been shut down before they could be raided as a police operation against one had alerted the others, a National Bureau of Investigation officer said on Saturday.

Dominador Villanueva III, NBI-Lucena district office chief, said the police arrested seven men in the cybersex den, including the alleged operator, John Lloyd Carlos, during a predawn raid on Wednesday in Barangay Mayao Crossing.

The police did not coordinate with other law enforcement units, including the NBI.

“We’re about to secure the search warrants to get them all in one simultaneous raid. Unfortunately, the police operation preempted our move,” Villanueva said. “But we understand that. All of us depend on the information provided by our respective informers.”

Villanueva tagged Carlos as “coordinator” of all cybersex den operators in Lucena.

“Part of his role is to collect protection money from all operators supposedly to bribe law enforcers so as not to disturb their illegal business,” Villanueva said.

Following through the police operation, local NBI agents simultaneously raided five houses used as dens in different parts of the city on Friday but found only three still operating.

Villanueva said neighbors told the NBI that the occupants had hurriedly abandoned the houses after word spread about the earlier police raid.

The raiders found computers with webcams, internet gadgets, sex toys and records of money remitted by foreign-based clients.

In one of the dens, the agents found one sex worker while in the act of performing in front of a webcam.