Italy's Carabinieri (an autonomous paramilitary force) said Tuesday that one Italian and six Nigerians face charges of human trafficking, trading in slaves, unlawful immigration and forcing women into prostitution.
The year-long investigation was instigated by victims of the trafficking ring, and that it turned up evidence of a criminal structure operating in Italy, Libya and Nigeria.
The International Organization for Migrants recorded a 600-percent increase in potential sex trafficking victims arriving in Italy over three years, most of them from Nigeria, to over 11,000 last year from under 1,500 in 2014.