2 women nabbed for child porn

MANILA, Philippines - Two women have been arrested and charged for allegedly leading a syndicate that sells nude photographs of girls, an official said yesterday.

Lyan Tandeg and Shellina Atad were charged with qualified trafficking and syndicated child pornography before the Department of Justice on Nov. 5, according to Ronald Aguto, head of the National Bureau of Investigation’s Computer Crimes Division. They are currently detained at the NBI jail.

The girls in the photos ranged in age from 8 to 11.

Aguto said the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation tipped them off on the illegal operation. 

He said that on April 27, American pilot Michael Carey Clemans was arrested at the San Francisco International Airport for having 100 images of child pornography on his iPad.  

“Some of the pornographic pictures came from the Philippines. They forwarded it to us and we started to investigate,” Aguto said.

The FBI also sent a copy of a Yahoo Messenger conversation between Clemans and Tandeg that reportedly showed evidence of child prostitution and child pornography.

NBI investigators monitored the suspects and found that the girls were photographed nude and offered for sex to foreign clients for P3,000 a night, Aguto said. 

He said undercover agents asked Tandeg and her accomplices to bring one girl with them when they met at a coffee shop in Angeles City, Pampanga on Nov. 4. The two women were arrested after turning over a flash drive with the nude photos in exchange for P500.

The NBI rescued three girls after the sting and turned them over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the International Justice Mission, a non-government human rights group.

“We interviewed the parents of the victims and they said that they thought that the suspects were recruiting their children as models,” Aguto said.

Tandeg’s boyfriend, believed to be involved in the illegal operation, was at the coffee shop but escaped, he added.