Bellingham Police: No evidence to support claims of human trafficking ring
BELLINGHAM — Police say they have found no evidence to support claims of a human trafficking ring operating around the Stallbrook Marketplace on Hartford Avenue.
According to police, a post on Facebook was making the rounds this week by a woman claiming she was approached by three females claiming to be members of a church.
“We were recently made aware of individuals claiming to be part of a church, approaching females in businesses at the Stallbrook Marketplace on Hartford Avenue,” the department said in a statement issued Tuesday. “We are also aware of a post on social media making the rounds about an alleged attempted abduction that followed one of these encounters here in Bellingham.”
According to police, the post was investigated and there was no criminal activity involved.
“Based on our records we never received a complaint from the individual who posted about her experience, despite her responding to several comments that the incident was reported,” the police statement said. “This post seems similar to several social media hoax posts that are spread from time to time and designed to cause panic.”
The church in question, identified as the World Mission Society Church of God, has locations across the country, including Boston and Natick.
World Mission Society Church of God is a Christian new religious movement that began in South Korea in 1964. After founder Ahn Sahng-Hong died in 1985, the Church expanded its activities to other parts of the world and began to use the name World Mission Society Church of God. Its headquarters are located in Bundang, Sungnam City, Kyunggi Province.
The church believes in “Christ Ahn Sahng-hong” and God the Mother, Jang Gil-ja, a living South Korean woman that is believed to be restoring the truth of the early church.
The sect claims to have 1.7 million members and to have “established 2,200 local churches in 150 countries.
Critics, including some former members, have described the society as a doomsday cult that recruits, manipulates, controls and exploits vulnerable people and some colleges have banned its recruiters.
According to Bellingham police reports, at approximately 8:40 p.m. Monday, the police station received multiple complaints that there were three females back at businesses in the plaza, again approaching females and aggressively trying to talk to them about their church. Offices were dispatched and the involved parties were all identified. The three females claimed to be with the World Mission Society Church of God, which has received negative press through false social media posts claiming that they are involved in human trafficking.
“The Bellingham Police Department has no reason to believe that these parties have any connection to human trafficking,” Bellingham police said.
“Officers explained that the manner in which they were approaching people coupled with the circulating social media posts was making people uncomfortable. Following a brief conversation the females were allowed to leave, and there are no charges pending from this case.”
Police are warning people not to make any false claims on social media that could cause unnecessary alarm in their communities.
“We are aware of bad information circulating reporting that the females were all arrested for “attempted child abduction” this is also not true,” the police statement says.