FBI locates 200 sex trafficking victims, identifies 196 suspects in nationwide campaign

The FBI located 200 sex trafficking victims, including 59 children, and identified or arrested 196 suspects during a two-week operation in July involving state and local partners, the federal agency announced.

The campaign, dubbed Operation Cross Country, also located 59 actively missing children, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

Officials said 126 suspects of child sexual exploitation and human trafficking offenses were arrested or identified and 68 trafficking suspects were identified or arrested.

"Human traffickers prey on the most vulnerable members of our society, and their crimes scar victims – many of them children – for life," FBI Director Christopher Wray said. "The FBI's commitment to combatting this threat will never waver, and we will continue to send our message that these atrocities will not be tolerated."

In August 2022, Operation Cross Country located 84 child sex trafficking victims and 141 adult human trafficking victims. 

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