PNP offers aid for FBI to track down Filipino wanted over child porn case

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) offered to help the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in tracking down a Filipino fugitive wanted for child pornography.

“At present, we are validating all available intelligence. Our units on the ground are actively coordinating, and our monitoring and information-gathering to determine the suspect’s exact location are continuing,” PNP Chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr., speaking Filipino, said in a statement on Monday.

READ: Filipino netizen wanted by FBI for child porn

“We are fully open to assisting the FBI to ensure that the suspect it has been looking for is tracked down and held accountable in coordination with other government agencies concerned,” he added.

Nartatez noted that the police were preparing their units for both cyber and ground operations to track down the suspect.

This came after the FBI over the weekend issued a wanted poster offering $25,000 for information leading to the arrest of Filipino content creator Austin Jan Sy Yatco, 27.

Yatco was charged with conspiracy to produce, receive and distribute child pornography before the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York last January.

The FBI said Yatco was now considered a fugitive and was believed to be in the Philippines. /jpv