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	The Philippines has rescued two children who were sexually abused on camera for an overseas online audience and arrested four people in a crackdown on the country&#39;s booming cyber-sex trade, authorities said this morning.</p>
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	Law enforcers acting on a tip-off from the US Department of Homeland Security raided several suburban Manila homes last weekend, the National Bureau of Investigation said.</p>
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	&quot;We were able to rescue two girls who were not quite eight years old,&quot; Eric Nuqui, head of the bureau&#39;s anti-human trafficking division said.</p>
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	Internet clients, based in the United States and unspecified European countries, would pay anywhere between $50 to watch naked children waving at the web camera to $200 to watch them engaging in sex acts, he said.</p>
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	Data from computer storage devices seized from the alleged Filipino operators, two men and two women, indicate at least six other children were victims of abuse, Mr Nuqui said.</p>
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	The bureau is trying to find these children as well as possible accomplices of the suspects, now held without bail for qualified human trafficking and rape, he added.</p>
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	&quot;These children are all from extremely poor families or broken families,&quot; Mr Nuqui said, adding that parents will also be investigated to check if they were complicit in the crimes.</p>
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	Authorities have warned the Philippines is a major hub of a billion-dollar global child cybersex industry, with perpetrators aided by widespread poverty and legal loopholes that allow them to remain anonymous.</p>
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	Last year, online child abuse was the leading cyber-related crime in the Philippines, making up 46% of the more than 200 cases being handled by law-enforcement agencies, according to the justice department.</p>
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	Filipino police last month arrested an Australian man, Gerard Peter Scully, 51, after he allegedly sexually abused at least eight girls, including an infant in front of a video camera, for clients overseas.</p>
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	He is also accused of murdering one of the victims.</p>
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	Mr Nuqui said he was unaware if the latest raids were related to a police operation in Denmark linked to children being sexually abused in the Philippines for overseas internet clients.</p>
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	Danish police arrested 10 male suspects in Wednesday&#39;s raids, they said.</p>
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	<a href="http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/0312/686499-child-abuse-manila/">http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/0312/686499-child-abuse-manila/</a></p>
