American pedophile nabbed outside NAIA

FILE: Immigration and police authorities arrested on Monday at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) a suspected American pedophile while meeting his would-be victim who is a female minor. (Photo: Bureau of Immigration, Republic of the Philippines/Facebook)

MANILA — Authorities on Monday arrested a 43-year-old suspected American pedophile while meeting his would-be victim who is a female minor outside the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 on Monday.

According to Bureau of Immigration (BI) Port Operations Division chief, Grifton Medina, Piotr Kmita was apprehended in an entrapment operation minutes after he arrived at the NAIA via a China Eastern Airlines flight from Pudong, China.

He added that the foreigner will be charged for violating Republic Act 10364 or the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act which penalizes the act of “procuring a child for prostitution and obtaining a person for the purpose of prostitution, pornography or sexual exploitation”.

The American was subsequently turned over to the custody of the Philippine National Police’s women and children protection center (WCPC) in Pampanga where the rescued girl comes from.

On the other hand, Bienvenido Castillo, head of the BI-NAIA’s Border Control and Intelligence Unit (BCIU), said that agents from the US government’s Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) sought the assistance of BI in monitoring the American, after he was discovered to have engaged in sexually explicit conversations with his young victim whom he befriended online through Facebook.

“The HSI then relayed the information to the PNP regional office in Pampanga, and we jointly conducted the operations to intercept Kmita upon his arrival in Manila,” he said in a statement Tuesday.

For his part, BI Commissioner Jaime Morente commended the efforts of the officers in ensuring the successful apprehension of the American.

“Different agencies should work together to successfully weed out undesirables like him,” he said.

“His presence here poses a serious threat to our women and children. Thanks to the vigilance and cooperation of our law enforcement agencies, as well as to the HSI for giving us information that led to this pedophile’s arrest,” Morente added.

With this, the BI chief explained that Kmita will not be deported yet until the criminal charges against him are resolved, adding that, if convicted, the alien will have to serve his sentence first before he could be sent back to the US.

Morente warned foreign nationals who are planning to travel to the Philippines for illegal activities.

“Do not prey on our women and children. We do not welcome sex tourists in the country,” he said.