(CNN Spanish) - Mexican authorities reported that they rescued 21 women from five countries who were forced to practice prostitution in the tourist destinations of Cancun and Playa del Carmen, Óscar Montes de Oca, attorney general of Quintana Roo told CNN .
The official said that the investigative police under his command raided two houses that operated as brothels in Cancun and the equally touristy Playa del Carmen.
The Prosecutor's Office reported the rescue of 21 people from five different countries: Argentina, Germany, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela. They are all between 20 and 25 years old.
In the first house, in Playa del Carmen, authorities detained nine people and rescued 14 victims. In the second house, in Cancun, they arrested four people and rescued seven victims, according to a statement from the Quintana Roo Attorney General's Office.
The state attorney said that the victims were forced into prostitution.
"While they were here, they told them that their transfer, the payment of the plane, their immigration procedures, they already owed equis (a certain amount of money) and that they had to pay it, and the way to pay it is through this sexual exploitation to which they they had to agree, "he said.
Montes de Oca assured that women who refused to prostitute themselves were threatened and documents, such as passports, were withheld, "so that they would not mobilize or could ask for help."
The Quintana Roo prosecutor assured that the 13 detainees in this case belonged to a gang dedicated to trafficking in persons for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
The State Prosecutor's Office added in a statement that the detainees were made available to the Special Prosecutor's Office for Investigation of Trafficking in Persons.
CNN tried to contact the defense of those indicated, but until Thursday it is unknown if they have lawyers.
sexual exploitation prostitution