Members of the Counter-Terrorism and Organized Crime (CTOC) in Jamaica announced a breakthrough after clamping down on a major prostitution ring in Runaway Bay, St Ann.

Jamaican police said during a series of operation to target persons involved in the human trafficking trade they discovered the underground scheme that involves some residents in the Salem area of Runaway Bay turning their houses into makeshift motels and renting them to prostitutes, some of them underage girls between 14 and 15-years-old, to perform sexual favors to customers.

Police told Loop News that between late Friday and early Saturday a team of officers from CTOC carried out a raid in the mentioned area where they arrested three women involved in the illegal underground operation.

“Police acting on information went to sections of the parish and during a raid the women, who are home owners were arrested,” Assistant Superintendent, Victor Barrett told Loop News

Barrett said further investigation into the illegal operation revealed that the home owners would rent rooms in their houses, or the small shacks built at the front of their premises, for a fee of $300 for 15 minutes to allow customers and the prostitutes to engage in their sexual activities.

“We have found that this underground operation is a multimillion-dollar scheme that sometimes target children and is also used to fund the operation of criminal gangs,” said one police source.

CTOC members say based on the information more persons could be arrested in coming days as they intensify their operation to clamp down on individuals involved in the human trafficking trade.