Working undercover to rescue children from sex abuse, Robert Earle saw things that will stay with him for the rest of his life.Give that man a medal. And don't get me started on just how hard we need to stomp down on these places, and their "customers".
Posing as a child-sex tourist for four years, from Cambodia to Mexico, the New Zealand Police human rights investigator rescued hundreds of women and children from forced prostitution.
"At the time I loved it, I felt honoured to be able to carry children as young as five years old from brothels, who were being sold to US sex tourists," said Mr Earle, who, because he remains undercover, would not give his real name.
"In hindsight it took a toll on me that wasn't apparent at the time ... but when you're there you don't see it as `human trafficking', you see it as a five-year-old girl called Yao who was being raped every day for profit, and you're able to take her away from that."
Related Link: Child Slavery