MEXICO CITY - Mexican police have arrested eight suspects for allegedly trafficking seven Honduran women for sex.

The federal public safety department said Friday the ring was based in the central state of Tlaxcala, and used methods long identified with forced prostitution there.

The suspects allegedly lured the Honduran migrants into relationships and then forced them to prostitute themselves.

In the past, some pimps in Tlaxcala have had children with their victims, and then used the children as emotional ransom to force the women to work, threatening the victims that they wouldn’t see their kids again.

The gang in the most recent case operated in the Mexican cities of Tijuana, Tabasco, San Luis Potosí, Morelos and Puebla. The suspects included five women and three men, all apparently members of the same extended family.