120 child sex traffickers arrested, 84 kids rescued in FBI sting (VIDEO)
A three-month-old baby and her five-year-old sister were among 84 sexually exploited juveniles rescued by the FBI during a nationwide sting. Some 120 child sex traffickers were arrested, with the agency releasing raw footage of the operation.
Coordinated operations also took place in Canada, the UK, Thailand, Cambodia, and the Philippines.
The FBI announced the results of the 11th round of Operation Cross Country, which took place between October 12 and October 15, in a statement Wednesday.
#Breaking: #FBI & @MissingKids announce results of underage sex trafficking crackdown & the recovery of 84 minors https://t.co/y317ZM5j9i
— FBI (@FBI) October 18, 2017
The 120 child sex traffickers were arrested across the country during four days of operations in hotels, casinos, and truck stops, as well as on street corners and internet websites. Half of the total arrests were made in Georgia.
Among the 84 underage victims recovered by FBI-led task forces were an infant and her five-year-old sister in Denver. A family friend allegedly made a deal with an undercover agent to sell the children for sex for $600.
The individual has been arrested and Child Protective Services contacted.
Australian police ran world’s biggest child porn site for a year in massive undercover op https://t.co/AG7wMCK1mA
— RT (@RT_com) October 8, 2017
“The threat of child sex trafficking is something the FBI works on every single day,” said Calvin Shivers, special agent in charge of the Denver Division.
“Operation Cross Country gives us the opportunity to shine a light on this threat and to educate the public.”
The FBI also released raw footage from the sting, offering a glimpse of the scale of operations, including a clip of an agent speaking to an alleged female victim from Russia.
Another case detailed by the FBI in El Paso was the recovery of a 16-year old female victim after an undercover agent responded to an online ad, arranging to meet a 21-year-old woman. The woman offered a fee of $200 to engage in sexual intercourse with her and another female, the 16-year-old victim.
The woman, and another female who drove the minor to the agent’s location, was arrested.
READ MORE: Child porn industry spreading in Southeast Asia as internet access grows
Operation Cross Country XI is part of the FBI’s Innocence Lost National Initiative launched in 2003. To date, the project has identified 6,500 children and locations, according to the FBI.
