Russia World Cup child trafficking plot stopped in Nigeria | CNN

Jada Pinkett Smith is on a mission to educate the public about human trafficking in the United States. In partnership with CNN, Pinkett Smith is getting to the root cause of this heinous crime. She's exposing a growing billion-dollar industry, through the eyes of victims and those on the frontlines of the fight against modern-day slavery.

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Sgt. Torrey Kennedy is a supervisor at Dekalb County Police Department's Special Victims Units and Internet Crimes Against Children. Sgt. Kennedy and his team are determined to clean-up Atlanta by rescuing child victims and locking up their exploiters.

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Lisa Williams is Founder and executive director of two signature programs, Living Water for Girls and the Learning Resource Center. She is on a mission to have perpetrators held accountable for their crimes against sex trafficking victims, while providing a safe space for survivors to heal from traumatic life events and acquire life skills that will allow them to have a healthy, self-sufficient future.

At 14, "Sacharay" suffered severe bullying in school because of her skin color. An older teen befriended her and led "Sacharay" to a man who claimed he loved her. Then he sold her body.

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Kasey McClure uses her past experience working in the strip clubs, as motivation for her volunteer organization, <a href="http://www.4sarah.net/" target="_blank" target="_blank">4Sarah</a>. She visits Atlanta-area clubs, providing gift bags and a sympathetic ear to those who may be thinking of leaving the profession.

Kasey McClure uses her past experience working in the strip clubs, as motivation for her volunteer organization, 4Sarah. She visits Atlanta-area clubs, providing gift bags and a sympathetic ear to those who may be thinking of leaving the profession.

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Dalia Racine, the assistant district attorney for DeKalb County, east of Atlanta, was the lead prosecutor in the case against Darryl Curry, also known as "Pimp DC," a convicted human trafficker who posted videos on the Internet, instructing others on how to recruit and groom young victims.

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Brock D. Nicholson is the former special-agent-in-charge for Homeland Security Investigations of the Southeast Region. Nicholson is currently DHS/ICE Attaché for Australia, coordinating all U.S./Australia investigations for HSI.

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Mary Frances Bowley is the founder of Wellspring Living, an organization fighting child sexual abuse and exploitation. She has been a leader in bringing the fight against child sex trafficking to Atlanta and runs one of the country's largest safe-homes dedicated entirely to human trafficking survivors.

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Rachel McCool grew up in a small Georgia town. She says she was exposed to pornography as a child and later was prostituted out of a strip club. After going through a rehabilitation program at Wellspring Living, Rachel has a renewed faith in God and an optimism about the future.

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Meet the people fighting to end sex trafficking

Lagos, Nigeria CNN —

Ten Nigerian children who were being smuggled out of the country to Russia have been rescued, the country’s anti-trafficking agency said Tuesday.

The traffickers were attempting to exploit relaxed entry rules into Russia ahead of the 2018 World Cup, according to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP).

Nine young girls and one boy were rescued and each child was in possession of a FIFA Fan ID, to take advantage of the fact that Russia is allowing travelers to enter the country with only a FIFA pass before and during the World Cup, NAPTIP said.

The children were intercepted Saturday as they tried to board a Moscow-bound flight in Lagos.

Five suspects, including a police sergeant, have been arrested for allegedly facilitating their travel, the agency said.

The children are now in a shelter for victims of trafficking run by the agency.

Director General of NAPTIP, Julie Okah Donli urged parents to be vigilant warned that human traffickers were luring youths abroad with false promises of sports scholarships and recruitment for sports activities.

“Our intelligence indicated that these mindless and wicked individuals… have now diversified their nefarious activities to include fabricating fake stories of providing educational supports in forms of scholarship, recruitment for sporting activities and the most frightening being organ harvesting,” she said.