The FBI has recently concluded their investigation called “Operation Cross Country XI” which focused on capturing criminals who were involved in acts of sex trafficking of minors. The Bureau and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) issued a statement saying that 84 minors were rescued out of the hands of criminals and that 120 traffickers were apprehended.
The operation specifically focused on human trafficking of children and took place for three days with arrests in Indianapolis, South Bend, and Fort Wayne. Over 55 field offices of the FBI joined the operation along with 78 smaller, local task forces.
The whole operation was a huge undertaking, as collaborating authorities from Canada, the United Kingdom, Thailand, Cambodia and The Philippines played a role in the investigation.
“We at the FBI have no greater mission than to protect our nation’s children from harm. Unfortunately, the number of traffickers arrested – and the number of children recovered – reinforces why we need to continue to do this important work,” FBI Director Christopher Wray issued in a statement. “This operation isn’t just about taking traffickers off the street. It’s about making sure we offer help and a way out to these young victims who find themselves caught in a vicious cycle of abuse.”
“By focusing on the identification of those responsible for commercial sexual exploitation of minors in Indianapolis, we were able to significantly impact online sex trafficking in the area and were able to further develop excellent relationships with our state, local and county law enforcement partners as well as our public health partners,” Supervisory Special Agent Mike Langeman added. “These operations will continue with the goal of locating and removing juveniles from sex trafficking and dismantling those responsible for commercial sexual exploitation.”
The operation was a part of a larger program by the FBI, the Innocence Lost National Initiative that was founded in 2003. Arrests took place in a number of different places, including stings in hotels, casinos, truck stops and even street corners where agents presumed that trafficking was taking place. The FBI also monitored specific websites on the internet.
The average age of the rescued minors was 15 years old and alarmingly, some of the abused children were only as young as three months old.
An entire Victim Services Division of the FBI is currently assisting all the victims and the division has brought in a number of different translators to ensure that all of them can begin their recovery process. All victims are offered both mental and physical health assistance.
“Child sex trafficking is happening in every community across America, and at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, we’re working to combat this problem every day,” said NCMEC President and CEO John Clark. “We’re proud to work with the FBI on Operation Cross Country to help find and recover child victims. We hope OCC generates more awareness about this crisis impacting our nation’s children.”
This recent operation by the FBI was a major success with 84 lives saved and many criminals that were taken off the streets, and the Bureau hopes that this investigation will generate more awareness about the despicable act of child sex trafficking in the United States.
We can only hope they will succeed to put a stop to human trafficking once and for all.
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