Undercover Sting Nets 43 Arrests for Child Sex Trafficking, Drugs in Arizona: ICE

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced on May 27 that an undercover operation targeting commercial human trafficking, including sex trafficking, had led to the arrests of 43 individuals.

The operation, in which officials worked alongside Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), was dubbed “Spring Fling” and targeted alleged sexual predators in Arizona, focusing on hotel prostitution and street prostitution enforcement, ICE said in a press release.

HSI joined the Scottsdale Police Department Human Exploitation and Trafficking (HEaT) Unit and the police departments from Phoenix, Mesa, Tempe, Gilbert, and Surprise, along with Arizona State University Police Department for the operation.

In total, 43 people were arrested for crimes that included child sex trafficking, prostitution, drug charges, and misconduct involving weapons.

Officials said that the suspects allegedly solicited or brokered deals for various sex acts before being apprehended. The majority of those arrested were charged with prostitution.

These latest arrests come shortly after law enforcement officers were able to locate and recover 70 missing children, most of them in West Texas, following a three-week operation involving multiple agencies.

Known as “Operation Lost Souls,” the police action ran from the end of April through mid-May in El Paso, Midland, and Ector and Tom Green counties in Texas.

The missing children ranged from 10 to 17 years old and were victims of sex trafficking and physical and sexual abuse. Many of them were runaways.

Although a majority of the children were located in West Texas, some were also recovered from the Dallas–Fort Worth area, as well as the state of Colorado, and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. The agencies provided victim services and counseling to the recovered children and their families.

“Operation Lost Souls exemplifies Homeland Security Investigations’ commitment to protecting the public from crimes of victimization. In this case, we are looking out for our children – our community’s most precious resource,” said HSI El Paso Deputy Special Agent in Charge Taekuk Cho.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/undercover-sting-nets-43-arrests-for-child-sex-trafficking-drugs-in-arizona-ice_4504601.html