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FBI: 105 Sexually Exploited Children Rescued

Operation Cross Country VII
Screengrab from FBI video promoting the FBI's "Operation Cross Country VII." (Credit:FBI)

(CBSDFW.COM/CBS News) - The DFW and Houston areas were included in a nationwide sweep by the FBI to rescue children from prostitution.

The massive nationwide law enforcement sweep targeting child sex-trafficking resulted in the saving of 105 sexually exploited children and the arrest of more than 150 pimps and others, the FBI said Monday.

Three children in Houston and another in the metroplex were rescued from their plight. The FBI arrested one pimp in Dallas, as well, according to KRLD's Chuck Schechner.

Texas has one of the highest rates of child human sex trafficking, according to Suma Ananthwamy with Children at Risk in Dallas. She said many victims are runaways who fall prey to pimps within 48 hours of living on the streets.

The coordinated action between multiple federal, state and local agencies was the largest such enforcement action to date, according to the FBI. Seventy-six cities took part, as well as the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) as part of the Bureau's Innocence Lost National Initiative.

The raid was the seventh similar such action to date under the title "Operation Cross Country."

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