78 arrested near London after human trafficking investigation
Police have charged dozens of people following a six-month probe targeting human trafficking and prostitution in southwestern Ontario.
London police partnered with counterparts in Strathroy-Caradoc, Stratford and Woodstock for the investigation, known as Project Equinox, which ran from Oct. 4, 2016, to April 1.
Seventy-eight people were arrested and 129 charges laid, including four human trafficking charges.
Thirty-five johns — customers seeking sex — were charged.
Eighteen women, ranging in age from 15 to 55, involved in the sex trade as a result of human trafficking were provided with support, police said.
Hotels and motels along the region’s 400-series highways, including the 401, are havens for sex trafficking, said Megan Walker, director of the London Abused Women’s Centre.
Walker applauded police for devoting resources to combat human trafficking, but she said the crime is hard to prosecute.
“It’s very difficult to have sextrafficking charges because it oftentimes relies on the victim, the woman, to testify or disclose she’s being trafficked,” Walker said Tuesday.
“And because there’s so many women that are fearful, they oftentimes won’t disclose that information — they’ll say they’re there by choice.”
Social agencies including the Salvation Army, Children’s Aid Society of London and Middlesex, Anova — a London agency that helps victims of sexual violence and abuse — and the Regional Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Treatment Centre helped investigators pinpoint where suspected trafficking was happening, while others provided assistance to victims.
Investigators also laid 24 drug charges, seized $8,070 in drugs, $12,740 in cash, a rifle and three knives.
The investigation targeted individuals answering escort ads, people involved in human trafficking and victims of human trafficking.
Police hadn’t released the names of anyone charged, but Walker said London police should follow the lead of forces in other cities and publish the names of johns.
“The community has a right to know who these men are,” she said.