Only 9 cops go after cyber criminals

THE Cebu Provincial Police Office (CPPO) has limited technical capability to track down and go after cyberpornography den operators in the province compared to other law enforcement agencies like the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

Senior Insp. Michael Virtudazo of the CPPO cybercrime laboratory said they only have nine personnel tasked to monitor cybercrime in the province.

have digital forensic equipment that could examine computers and cellphones containing pornographic material.

“We have a digital storage media that can possibly recover pornographic files which were deleted from the device,” Virtudazo said.

The Cebu provincial police is monitoring cyber-sex dens similar to the one raided in Cordova town last Sunday.

Virtudazo said their anti-cybercrime group has nine personnel equipped with one forensic tower, three mobile forensic laptops, one celebrite forensic machine and one XRY cellphone.

When Cebu Daily News visited their laboratory, there were computers seized from their raid of the Interface Techno-Phil Inc. (ITPI) that was suspected of engaging in an Internet scam.

Last Sunday dawn, operatives of the National Bureau of Investigation in coordination with the US Department of Homeland Security arrested a couple for using their daughter and their niece in their cyber-pornography racket in Cordova town.

A similar operation was also conducted in Cordova town last June 2011 where a couple was caught staging a live online sex show with five of their children and a niece.

In Lapu-Lapu City, Mayor Paz Radaza said their Barangay Peacekeeping Action Team (BPAT) is working with their police to monitor the presence of cyber-sex en operators in the city.

Radaza said so far they haven’t received any reports of these cyber-sex dens operating in the city.

A former Lapu-Lapu City police chief earlier claimed there were cyber-sex dens operated by couples in 2011.

“I always remind the barangay captains during our regular meetings to be on the watch for illegal activities in their area and coordinate with police to address the problem,” Radaza said. Correspondents Joy Cherry Quito and Norman V. Mendoza