Anonymous ID: 709b69 Jan. 18, 2019, 2:59 p.m. No.4810380   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>0397 >>0415 >>0454

Police arrest Toronto man allegedly behind international sex trafficking ring with thousands of possible customers

 

A Toronto man accused of running an international human trafficking ring was one of six people arrested this week following a multi-jurisdiction investigation spanning Canada, the U.S. and Australia.

 

Toronto police said Friday they were contacted by the FBI’s child exploitation task force last August about an alleged organized crime group behind a complex prostitution operation with tens of thousands of possible customers.

 

According to an indictment filed in the U.S., the FBI’s main suspect was Toronto-based Zongtao Chen, also known as Zong Tao Chen and Mark Chen.

 

The suspect allegedly led a criminal business that recruited women, primarily from China, to travel to the U.S. and elsewhere to engage in prostitution and other sex trafficking activities.

 

The indictment listed a number of international websites and the locations they advertised, including in Toronto, at Don Mills Rd. and Sheppard Ave. E., and in Calgary and Edmonton.

 

The international investigation began after nearly 20 anonymous tips came into Crime Stoppers of Oregon during the summer of 2016, according to the Oregonian.

 

“International prostitution ring operating in Portland,” a tip read, according to court documents reported by the newspaper. “When will you shut down this operation?’”

 

A person designated as a “boss” would oversee and manage a brothel in a hotel or apartment complex in the different cities the organization was operating, police said.

 

Customers looking for massages and escorts would call a number listed on www.supermatchescort.com or related websites, or send a message by text, email, or WeChat, an encrypted internet messaging service based in China.

 

The organization used dispatchers who would receive incoming requests from potential customers to set up “dates” with women working at the various brothels.

 

Sauce:

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2019/01/18/police-arrest-toronto-man-allegedly-behind-international-sex-trafficking-ring-with-thousands-of-possible-customers.html