In a report by Vanguard, Mr Ilupeju Adebayo, Director of the DSS Command in Cross River, made the disclosure to newsmen on Saturday in Calabar.
He said those arrested were picked up around 2:15 a.m on Saturday at the Peace Garden Hotel and Papsi Place, Calabar and they are made up of 43 girls and 16 men.
He said:
“We got an intelligence report and swung into action. We have been on the matter for months. We discovered that the girls are mostly underage, mostly between the ages of 13, 15, and 19 years of age.
“We also know that they were brought in by a cartel, deeply involved in the business of trafficking and using the girls as commercial sex workers.
“The girls then bring returns to them at the beginning or close of the week, depending on their modus operandi.
“We have made some arrests including that of the owner of Papsi Place, a brothel that houses mostly underage girls who pay him N2,000 on week days and N4,000 at weekends as lodging fees.
“They operate from the hotel, to clubs were we arrested them stark naked.
“We have contacted the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), while investigations are ongoing until all those involved in the illicit trade are arrested and charged to court,’’