Undercover officers posing as sex buyers at last week's Comic-Con event in California rescued human trafficking victims, including a 16-year-old girl, and made multiple arrests, prosecutors said Wednesday.
A task force involving local San Diego police, federal officers and naval intelligence arrested 14 people who were attempting to buy sex at the giant pop culture gathering.
Ten victims were rescued, nine of them adults, said California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
"Unfortunately, sex traffickers capitalize on large-scale events such as Comic-Con to exploit their victims for profit," said Bonta, in a statement.
San Diego Comic-Con is one of the world's largest pop culture events.
Around 135,000 people were expected to attend the convention, which lasted from Thursday to Sunday.
"Obviously we find this very disturbing and, while we were not made aware of this operation, it is our understanding that the arrests were made outside of the event," a spokesperson for Comic-Con said in a statement to AFP.
"We work closely with a variety of law enforcement entities throughout the year and stand ready to assist in any way we can."
Originally a grassroots event for comic book fans to meet, Comic-Con has grown exponentially and is today used by giant Hollywood studios and A-list stars to launch their latest blockbuster movies and TV shows.
Christopher Davis, acting special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in San Diego, said "highly attended events" like Comic-Con are often seen by criminals as "an opportunity to prey upon minors."
"Working together, teams identified and arrested more than a dozen individuals participating in these illegal acts in our city over the weekend," said San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl.
Law enforcement personnel placed undercover advertisements soliciting sex in order to arrest sex buyers.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Featured Video Of The Day
Hamas Chief Ismail Haniyeh Killed In Iran's Capital, Group Confirms
Raging Park Fire Grows To California's 6th Largest Wildfire Ever 14 Indians Rescued From 'Cyber-Slavery' In Cambodia Wait To Return Home "This Is The Final Straw": Elon Musk Moving X And SpaceX Out Of California Iran's Leader Orders Attack On Israel After Hamas Chief's Killing: Report "Kerala Paying Price Of...": BJP Leader On Wayanad Landslides UPSC Cancels Puja Khedkar's IAS Selection, Bans Her From Taking Exam Ever Nifty Crosses 25,000 For First Time, Sensex At All-Time High Halfway Through Monsoon, One-Fourth Of India Faces Rain Deficit India Advises Citizens To Avoid All Non-Essential Travel To Lebanon Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.