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46 women rescued after Mexico sex trafficking bust

Posted at 9:00 AM, Jul 02, 2013
and last updated 2013-07-02 00:12:52-04

(CNN) — Authorities in Mexico City say they’ve rescued 46 women in a human trafficking bust.

The women rescued included 27 Mexicans and 19 foreigners, Mexico City prosecutors said in a statement.

Forty people were detained after a raid at the Cadillac table-dance club in the country’s capital over the weekend, prosecutors said. Fourteen of them face charges of human trafficking for sexual exploitation, the statement said.

In 2011, Mexico City’s human rights commission found there were “alarming” human trafficking figures in the sprawling metropolis.

While an estimated 10,000 women were victims of human trafficking in Mexico’s capital in 2010, there were only 40 investigations of the crime and three convictions in the city that year, according to a report from the organization.

Since then, the country has changed its constitution to combat human trafficking.

The measures make human trafficking a federal crime, punishable by up to 40 years in prison. And it targets not only those involved in sex trafficking but also other forms of modern slavery, including forced labor and child pornography.