Underage girls rescued from sex trafficker after ITV investigation

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Cambodian police have rescued two girls from a suspected child trafficker after acting on information from an ITV investigation.

Officers arrested a suspect and rescued two youngsters aged 13 and 14 in a raid following the Exposure: Overseas Predators programme, which aired last month.

Police found the pair in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh when they swooped on the suspected child trafficker.

The programme showed how the city was a destination for British paedophiles who travel to the country to abuse children - and how the UKs powers to stop them were being used ineffectively.

Exposure reporter Mark Williams-Thomas went undercover as a British paedophile to demonstrate how easily perverts could buy children for sex there.

Undercover footage from the programme gathered by Mark and the ITV team showed tuk-tuk drivers offering underage girls for sex, and they handed police their full evidence dossier, including a mobile phone used to contact the drivers.

Other footage used in the programme included British paedophile Reginald Blakeley, 71, wrapping his arms around a young local boy in a Manchester United shirt, before being confronted by Mark on British soil about his trip to Cambodia.

It also showed Mark being offered a 10-year-old girl by one of the men he made contact with during his investigation.

Experts also told how paedophiles targeted poverty-stricken countries like Cambodia and worked for charities or as teachers to gain access to youngsters.

Mark said: "To hear that these girls are now safe after apparently being preyed on for abuse is very welcome news.

The fact they have been rescued as a result of the evidence we gathered for the Exposure programme further validates the investigation we undertook into a difficult and emotive issue ."

LINK:	http://www.itv.com/presscentre/press-releases/underage-girls-rescued-s...
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