More than 80 children, including a 3-month-old girl, were rescued in a nationwide crackdown on child sex trafficking, federal authorities said.
As part of “Operation Cross Country XI,” the FBI arrested 120 alleged traffickers and saved 84 children who were involved in child sex trafficking operations, the agency said in a news release Wednesday. The victims were found after the FBI patrolled hotels, casinos, truck stops, street corners and websites between Oct. 12 and Oct. 15.
A 3-month-old girl, the youngest of the victims, was rescued in Denver last Friday, along with a 5-year-old girl, the FBI said. Their suspected trafficker, authorities say, was a friend of the family who had offered an undercover officer sex with the girls for $600.
The average age of the rescued victims was 15 years old, according to the FBI.
“We at the FBI have no greater mission than to protect our nation’s children from harm,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the number of traffickers arrested—and the number of children recovered—reinforces why we need to continue to do this important work.”
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