Police in southern Italy have arrested seven people on charges of trafficking Nigerian women for prostitution.

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.

(Source: AP)