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More than 50 women were forced into prostitution in North Jersey, Rockland County and New York City by male members of a large-scale international human trafficking ring run by three women from Teaneck and two men from Lodi, authorities said .
A massive investigation into sex trafficking in both states culminated in a series of early-morning raids Wednesday at 19 homes and other locations in Bergen and Hudson counties – including Lodi, Teaneck, Englewood, Elmwood Park and Bergenfield.
Detectives and uniformed police and sheriff s officers arrested 21 ring members.
They also obtained a fugitive warrant for one of the accused ringleaders, 61-year-old Birmania “Nancy” Rincon of Teaneck, who Bergen County Prosecutor Mark Musella said was believed to be in Colombia.
A human trafficking and prostitution ring stretching from North Jersey and parts of New York to Mexico has been broken up, Bergen County and federal law enforcement announced Thursday.
Police arrested more than 20 people accused of various levels of involvement over a several year span, including managers and drivers who also acted as enforcers and money collectors in the $250,000 a month operation, Chief Robert Anzilotti of the Bergen County Prosecutor s Office said.
More than 50 female victims were lured from small towns in Mexico and transported throughout Bergen, Hudson, Middlesex and Passaic counties, as well as Rockland and Queens counties in New York, where they were forced into prostitution, Bergen County Mark Musella said.