MEXICO CITY – Mexico City police busted a prostitution ring that was allegedly holding 28 women against their will, arresting 26 suspects in the operation, prosecutors said.

The Mexico City district attorney’s office said in a statement that the suspected members of the criminal outfit, which operated in hotels and parking lots and on city streets, were detained Wednesday night after a six-month investigation, launched after seven victims filed complaints.

Mexico City District Attorney Miguel Mancera told reporters that four suspected ring leaders were arrested in the operation, carried out at a downtown hotel and its immediate vicinity.

The women rescued by police told authorities that those four individuals had enforcers and guards under their control who kept track of them and demanded daily payments.

The victims, one allegedly a minor, said they had to hand over between 3,000 and 5,000 pesos (between $230 and $384) per day and when they failed to come up with the money they were taken to other parts of the capital and left without food. EFE