OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 11:09 AM PT — Monday, March 11, 2019
Seattle Police rescued 26 women from a large scale sex trafficking scheme spanning across the city’s Asia-town area. The women immigrated from China, where they saw ads promising a better life in America working for the massage parlors. However, when they arrived in Seattle they found themselves in the middle of a brutal sex trafficking operation.
Police arrested six people and closed 11 Seattle massage parlors over the weekend after a three and a half year investigation.
The women were aged 20 to 65, and were forced to work upwards of 20-hours per day, seven-days a week while earning minimal wages. They were also often assaulted by the suspects.
The victims are reportedly now safe and are being cared for by victim assistance organizations to insure their recovery.
Locals claimed to have noticed strange activity coming from the massage parlor over the past few years. Residents said it always appeared to be open very late.
Police started working with the FBI in 2015 to investigate concerns from local Seattle residents about potential sex trafficking. Over three years the police identified 11 locations connected with the sex trafficking ring.
According to officials, networks such as these are not uncommon occurrences in big cities such as Seattle.
“Throughout, law enforcement were all fully aware that this problem has been around for a while,” said Capt. Mike Edwards of the Seattle Police. “It is very well organized, very well connected — we’re working with the federal agencies primarily on that side of it.”
While there are no conclusive statistics on the number of sex trafficking victims in the U.S., the non-profit group Polaris estimates there are over 100,000 victims domestically.
As the Seattle Police celebrate the years-long bust, they know the job is far from over.
President Trump has often mentioned the problem of human sex trafficking in his please for better security at the southern border.