Authorities in Atlanta have interrupted a sex trafficking ring ahead of the Super Bowl. According to ABC News, 33 people were arrested in relation to sex trafficking prior to the event.
Four victims have been rescued, but beyond that, authorities are keeping details to a minimum. Nick Annan, an agent for the Department of Homeland Security, said that they were keeping it close to the vest, as the operations to stymie sex trafficking ahead of the game are ongoing.
“We plan to continue what we’re doing,” Annan told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
After the news broke, women on Twitter urged people to be on alert if they were in the Atlanta area. They recommended carrying small weapons and traveling in groups.
Large sporting events are hotspots for sex trafficking due to the influx of monied tourists. While there are many claims that the Super Bowl is the biggest week for trafficking in the United States, studies have found that is not the case.
A study by University of Minnesota researchers found that the Super Bowl, "like many other large and localized public events, correlates with an increase in the number of online ads for commercial sex in the host city."
"However, the Super Bowl does not appear to have the largest impact and evidence suggests the impact is short-lived," the authors added.
Advocates who spoke to CNN did notice a "slight uptick" in calls to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, but they attributed it to increased awareness of the hotline and not an increase in trafficking.
"They were very likely being trafficked before that too," said Brandon Bouchard, spokesman for the Polaris Project, which runs the hotline.
The International Labor Organization estimates that 40.3 million people are being trafficked globaly. 71 percent of those people are women, and a quarter of them are children.
