Hundreds of predators suspected of orchestrating the abuse of children in the Philippines are walking free in Australia, despite Australian Federal Police having proof they have communicated with — and transferred money to — one of that country’s most prolific child traffickers.
The child trafficker, Filipino national Melor Santos, was arrested two years ago and charged with trafficking children, abusing them for international clients in live-streamed sessions.
He’s since been sentenced to 22 years in prison.
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His arrest was the result of an elaborate undercover operation run by Destiny Rescue, a Sunshine Coast-based charity who has undercover operative throughout south-east Asia.
Their mission: Present themselves as Australian paedophiles in order to deceive traffickers, infiltrating their dark world, and rescuing children.
For years, Santos was livestreaming the abuse of his underage victims - some as young as three - for paying international clients.
After his arrest, Philippines police forensically analysed his mobile phone, discovering the identities of 395 Australian clients, according to Destiny Rescue.
The details of 352 were passed onto the Australian Federal Police.
But of that 352, only 16 have been charged.
The discovery has prompted an expert on the behaviour of child sex offenders to warn that these predators, who live-stream or direct the abuse of children overseas, pose a direct threat to Australian children.
Forensic psychologist Peter Ashkar said: “That type of offender will almost certainly use whatever opportunity that they have to commit a similar type of sexual offense against a similar type of victim in person, if they have the opportunity to do so.”
Uncovering 395 Australian suspects
The discovery of the 395 Australians was exposed in a 7NEWS Spotlight investigation that aired on Sunday night.
Reporter Liam Bartlett and a 7NEWS Spotlight crew spent weeks embedded with the Destiny Rescue unit who found the child trafficker and rescued his victims.
An AFP spokesman told 7NEWS Spotlight that a small portion of the remaining 336 identities found on the phone were still under investigation, but most had been cleared of any wrongdoing.
“Most Australians contacting the alleged offender were purchasing legal adult live-streamlining pornography and adult material that he was also producing,” the AFP spokesman said.
The suggestion that “most Australians” in contact with Santos were innocently purchasing adult material comes as a shock to the Destiny Rescue operative who spoke to Santos for nine months.
Matt Valentine — a former homicide detective, now a Destiny Rescue undercover operative — deceived Santos into believing he too was an interested client, in order to find his location and to rescue his underage victims.
Santos offered Matt child abuse material in each of their conversations, but Matt had to refuse in way that didn’t blow his cover.
“I was given the instruction from the police to engage with that particular perpetrator - never, ever, ever to indicate that I want content and never received content - it was to put myself in a position that gave me the ability for them to offer me something,” Matt told 7NEWS Spotlight.
‘Sold in the darkest places of the world’
Destiny Rescue has rescued 19,000 children and young adults from human trafficking since its founding in 2001, but that number is exponentially increasing each year.
In 2024, there were 4100 rescues.
Destiny Rescue’s CEO told 7NEWS Spotlight: “We’re simply there trying to find where kids are being sold in the darkest places of the world and getting them out and helping them rewrite their destiny.”
The 7NEWS Spotlight investigation was there to watch as Matt did exactly that.
For months, he earned the trust of child traffickers by posing as a potential client from Australia.
Matt navigates a delicate line — ensuring no harm comes to the child during his investigation, while allowing the suspect to incriminate himself with explicit overtures.
After gathering enough incriminating evidence, Filipino police obtain an arrest warrant.
Rescuing children is Matt’s first priority, but gaining access to the suspected trafficker’s phone is a close second.
It allows Matt and the Philippines’ police to provide the AFP with the names of Australian clients, ultimately bringing to justice the predators fuelling this trade.
Australian predator’s ‘get out of jail free’ card
But the 7NEWS Spotlight investigation found, even when Australians are charged for paying to direct the abuse of children overseas, prosecutors in Australia have pursued them for lesser offences that come with more lenient punishment.
One of those Australians is Toni Brimble — a retired businessman and grandad living in the regional NSW town of Taree.
7NEWS Spotlight uncovered a series of text messages Brimble sent to Santos in which he lays out exactly how he would like to see a five-year-old victim abused.
In the text messages, he’s bargaining with Santos over a few dollars.
“He’s bargaining for the rape of a child,” Matt said.
“He’s bargaining the destruction of a five-year-old girl down to the level of money that he wants to send. 10 bucks.”
But despite the compelling text message evidence showing Brimble directing the abuse, he was charged with the lesser offences of “possessing” child abuse material and “transmitting” it to himself.
Ashkar, a forensic psychologist who assess sex offenders like Brimble, told 7NEWS Spotlight he believed his offending was no different to a contact offence.
“I see no difference in using one’s own hand to inflict the abuse on a child or instructing a proxy to use their hand to inflict the abuse on the child. It’s the same in terms of criminality and moral and legal transgression,” he said.
Brimble was given a wholly suspended prison sentence.
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