Thursday, August 10, 2006 - Page updated at 12:00 AM

Feds bust international prostitution and human-trafficking ring in Seattle and L.A.

Seattle Times staff reporter

At a news conference scheduled for this afternoon, U.S. Attorney John McKay said he will announce several arrests in Seattle and Los Angeles in an international prostitution and human-trafficking ring.

"Early this morning federal agents and Seattle police officers arrested a number of individuals in a prostitution ring which inviolved young women from Southeast Asia, many who were smuggled into the country, most of whom incurred debts on entry into the country, which they had been required to work off," McKay told an audience at a CityClub panel discussion on privacy early this afternoon, before leaving for the press conference. He said the investigation is ongoing.

Some of the women had been smuggled into the U.S. in shipping containers. They were made to work as prostitutes and were moved from city to city frequently to avoid detection by law enforcement, said McKay.