This week officials from the FBI announced the results of a nationwide human trafficking operation: 149 underage trafficking victims recovered and more than 150 pimps arrested.

According to the report, victims were as young as 12 and most were female. Three males were recovered and three were identified as transgendered.

The effort, dubbed Operation Cross Country IX, is part of an ongoing national effort spearheaded by the FBI and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, along with state and local law enforcement partners across the country. The initiative, now in its ninth year, targets the criminal enterprises responsible for the commercial sex trafficking of children.

“Our mission is to protect the American people — especially our children — from harm,” said FBI Director James Comey. “When kids are treated as a commodity in seedy hotels and on dark roadsides, we must rescue them from their nightmare and severely punish those responsible for that horror. We simply must continue to work with our partners to end the scourge of sex trafficking in our country.”

“Human trafficking is a monstrous and devastating crime,” said Attorney General Loretta Lynch. “The Department of Justice will continue to aggressively and persistently fight this heinous crime, and to hold its perpetrators accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”

According to the release:

Operation Cross Country IX is the largest in the nine-year history of the initiative, with 53 FBI field offices and 73 Child Exploitation Task Forces, which include federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, taking part in the operation in 135 cities across America, including Dallas. Nationwide, more than 500 law enforcement officials, including investigators and officers from federal, state, and local law enforcement organizations, conducted operations in hotels, casinos, truck stops, and in other areas known to be frequented by prostitutes, sex traffickers, and their customers.

Operation Cross Country is part of the FBI’s Innocence Lost national initiative, which began in 2003. Since the program’s inception, more than 4,800 children have been recovered from underage prostitution, and prosecutors have obtained more than 2,000 convictions, including at least 15 that have resulted in life sentences. For additional information on Operation Cross Country IX, and the Innocence Lost initiative, please visit www.fbi.gov.