By Candace Hathaway | The Blaze Media
Chinese organized crime is fueling a $5 billion-per-year sex-trafficking empire in the United States, operating numerous illicit massage parlors where 75,000 victims are enslaved and traumatized.
This modern slavery crisis was the target of a nationwide operation on Thursday involving 19 states and more than 150 law enforcement agencies, Blaze News has learned.
‘We’ve not been giving our law enforcement officers the tools that they need to battle trafficking, and that’s why trafficking continues to increase.’
Dan Nash, the founder of the Human Trafficking Training Center and a retired Missouri state trooper, coordinated the action, dubbed Operation Coast to Coast.
Thursday’s sweep marked the third time Nash and HTTC launched the effort, which aimed to identify sex-trafficking victims, arrest traffickers, and share intelligence.
The joint mission raided illegal massage parlors and hotels, as well as targeted sex buyers. An Operation Coast to Coast press release obtained exclusively by Blaze News noted that Chinese criminal organizations run the billion-dollar-per-year illicit industry.
Nash told Blaze News, “In California and New York, they have more illicit massage business than they do Starbucks and McDonald’s combined.”
He has used his 27 years in law enforcement to train thousands of officers across the country on how to identify and handle these trafficking situations.
“Most people think that the police officers are trained, but they’re not. They don’t get this kind of training,” Nash stated, adding that his training program was created out of necessity.