UAE arrests and turns over suspected child sexual exploiter to the Philippines, officials say

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - A Filipino man suspected of victimizing more than 100 children in the Philippines with his gang by selling their nude pictures online, including some while being raped by his cohorts, has been arrested in the United Arab Emirates and flown back Thursday to Manila, officials said.

Philippine Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos and his colleagues received the suspect, a computer expert, from authorities in Dubai and escorted him back to Manila.

UAE authorities arrested the suspect after the Philippines applied for an Interpol Red Notice, which flags people deemed fugitives to law enforcement worldwide, Philippine police officials said.

“To those who heartlessly abuse minors, the message is clear: there is no safe hiding place for you. Wherever you go, you would eventually have to face the law," Abalos said in a statement.

He called the suspect, who was identified as Teddy Mejia, "a notorious and merciless big-time child trafficker.”

The suspect and his gang would entice girls as young as 9 to 11 years old by sending them 500 pesos ($9) in exchange for their facial pictures, according to Abalos. He would then manipulate the image to appear with a nude body and use that to blackmail the victims into giving more compromising pictures, which were sold online to foreign clients.

"Some of the victims were raped and filmed during the assault and those materials were also sold," Abalos told The Associated Press by telephone. "It’s really despicable."

Some victims were blackmailed and became so despondent that they took their own lives, Philippine National Police chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil said.

The online sexual exploitation of children has flourished in the Philippines due to poverty and widespread availability of internet connections, Marbil said.

Brig. Gen. Portia Manalad, director of the national police's Women and Children Protection Center, said authorities began investigating in May last year after some victims sought help and provided details of the online operations of the suspect and at least six other members of his criminal syndicate

Investigators identified at least 111 victims. About 30, who were traced by law enforcers mostly from provincial regions, provided statements that allowed Philippine authorities to file criminal complaints against the suspects and secure warrants for their arrest, Manalad said.

Four suspects were arrested in the Philippines in recent months before Mejia, the apparent leader of the syndicate, was traced and arrested in the UAE, Manalad said.

Abalos and Philippine police officials presented a handcuffed Mejia, whose face was covered, to journalists at Manila’s international airport.

“We traced him through the online money trail," Manalad told The AP without elaborating.