Law enforcement agents rescued over 50 alleged sex slaves during a raid Friday on nine Texan businesses authorities believe are linked to a sex trafficking operation, ABC13 Houston reported.
The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC), assisted by the FBI and state and local police, arrested several individuals while raiding the Houston-based clubs and bars in what potentially is the largest such operation in the state’s history, the local outlet reported Friday.
Each of the businesses allegedly held 10 to 20 women against their will and were suspected of having ties to a cartel that the TABC reportedly declined to name.
“It’s sad to see that human beings were held in these kinds of conditions,” TABC Chairman Kevin Lilly told ABC13.
The investigation into these businesses took roughly 10 years to complete.
The victims did not live in the businesses but were allegedly made to perform sex acts there, Lilly added.
All nine businesses were immediately shut down and will remain closed for at least 90 days, Lilly also told ABC13.
In early October, San Antonio Police Department Chief William McManus announced the arrest of four alleged members of the transnational Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua (TdA) and 15 other individuals at the Palatia Apartment Homes in San Antonio following reports of multiple drug violations, human trafficking and threats to residents, KSAT 12 reported.
[embedded content]
The gang took control of the area before the law enforcement operation, McManus told reporters. One of the four suspected TdA members was the enforcer for the day, he said. The law enforcement agents reportedly cleared out 300 vacant apartments in the complex.
One tenant told KSAT 12 that suspected gang members were scamming fellow migrants using fake lease agreements to rent out empty apartments to the migrants, only for authorities to throw out the migrants. The alleged gang members would also fire gunshots randomly during rainy days, using the noise of rainfall as cover, the tenant added.
[embedded content]
An alleged TdA member was separately arrested Oct. 7 on suspicion of recruiting middle school students in Houston for the gang, FOX 26 Houston reported. The students were recruited for a planned massive shoplifting operation.
[embedded content]
Texas was the first state to formally declare action against TdA, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott told FOX News in September.
“We are seeking them, we will find them, we will put them behind bars, to make sure that Texas is hostile territory to this treacherous gang,” he said.
