Philippine authorities rescue 70 minors from child pornography ring

Monday, July 5th 2004, 9:56 am

By: News On 6

MANILA, Philippines (AP) _ Philippine authorities rescued about 70 children, some as young as 5, during a raid on the house of a suspected child pornography ring, officials said Monday.

Seven suspected members of the syndicate, including a Japanese man, were arrested during the raid Saturday in a resort in Los Banos, in Laguna province about 43 miles south of Manila, said National Bureau of Investigation official Ricardo Diaz.

Some of those arrested were caught taking photographs of nude children, he said. The children, ages 5 to 12, were turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development, which was to return them to their families.

Government agents were led to the syndicate's headquarters by a Dutch representative of the SOS Child Care Foundation, he said.

Those arrested will be charged for violating a human trafficking law, punishable by life in prison, Diaz said.