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Mexico: Man allegedly tried to sell woman, 4 kids

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-06-29 09:35

MEXICO CITY:A Mexican man has been detained for allegedly plotting to sell a young woman, two girls and two boys for $2,000 apiece in the United States, police said Sunday.

Police in the northern state of Sonora said the 19-year-old woman and girls aged 12 and 15 were kidnapped by the suspect and another man. The woman and the girls were freed after being held since June 22 at a house in the town of Cananea, near the Arizona border, police said.

The suspect confessed that he planned sell them to a contact in the United States to work as prostitutes, the police statement said. He also allegedly wanted to sell his two stepsons, ages 1 and 4, it added.

The man has not been formally charged. He is being held on suspicion of human trafficking, a charge that carries a maximum punishment of 23 years in prison.