ORILLIA, Ont. – Police say a total of 33 charges have been laid against nine people during a nationwide human-trafficking investigation.
Charges include forcible confinement, making and distributing child pornography and assault and trafficking in persons.
The 26 police forces involved in Operation Northern Spotlight include those in Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary, Regina, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Halifax and Quebec City.
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Hundreds of young women were interviewed during the operation, which was first launched last January and focused on hotels and motels along major thoroughfares in 30 cities and towns across the country, police said.
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During that phase of the operation, more than 340 women were interviewed. Many of them — some as young as 15 — had been threatened with violence, extortion and drug dependency, among other forms of coercion, police allege.
-With files from Global News
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