US law enforcement officials have reportedly rescued sixteen teenagers as young as 13 years in a crackdown on child trafficking surrounding the Super Bowl last weekend.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have recovered sixteen teenagers ranging in age from 13 to 17, most of whom were girls and included high school students and young people reported missing by their families.
According to ABC News, Michael Osborne of the FBI's Violent Crimes Against Children Unit said that it is the most significant operation that they have around a big event, adding that the recoveries are victim-focused as many times, pimps keep these youngsters in this life by sexual, physical and emotional abuse.
Osborne also said that the law enforcement's effort to help the young victims goes beyond providing overnight food, clothing and shelter to referrals to health care facilities, shelters, and other programs, adding that the FBI works with social service specialists to provide for the long-term needs of the victims as well.
Stating that it is strange that in such cases, the young victims themselves do not think they deserve the help, Osborne further said that the FBI teamed with state and local law enforcement to develop intelligence about the movement of pimps and prostitutes into the vicinity of the Super Bowl, as they do with any big event, like a big game or convention.
The crackdown also identified and arrested 45 pimps and their associates, who came in New York, New Jersey and in Connecticut in the days leading up to the Super Bowl.
The FBI's Super Bowl operation efforts were part of the Innocence Lost National Initiative, established in 2003 by the FBI's Criminal Investigative Division, in partnership with the Department of Justice and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, to address the growing problem of child prostitution, the report added.
