Hispanic crime: Authorities in the United States have arrested 12 people in connection with a people-trafficking prostitution ring

Another 44 people have been detained. Eleven women from Central America and Mexico, most in their 20s, were freed. The women were forced to have sex with up to 30 men a day, charging $30 for each act. The gang is thought to have been smuggling women since 2008, moving them to different cities every week in the south-eastern United States. The US authorities have indicted eight men and four women. Most of the other detainees are said to be clients. The sex-trafficking ring served mostly ethnic Latino immigrants in larger cities and rural communities of Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas, the authorities said. One of the indicted, a Mexican citizen, is accused of having threatened to send one woman back to Mexico if she did not have sex with at least 25 men a day. Most of the 44 detainees were non-Americans and would face court action. Those who were illegal in the country would be deported, said Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton.