BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) – Three area spas raided recently by police are believed part of an international syndicate that forced Asian women to work as sex slaves to pay off debts to people who smuggled them to this country, police say.

Investigators’ sworn statements allege that Asian women in the network, which spanned four countries and seven states, would provide massages and sexual services, then surrender most of the money to pay for being smuggled into the United States.

The women also paid to live at the spas and rarely left the buildings, the documents say. Several have criminal records with numerous prostitution arrests.

The smuggling and sex businesses might be part of foreign organized crime, police affidavits say. Search warrants found more than $145,000 in cash, plus records of fund transfers to China, the documents say.

Local, state and federal investigators raided the spas July 1, arresting eight women. Two are in federal custody in Hartford, Conn.; five received summonses to immigration court; and one has a prior deportation order, federal officials said.

Those are all civil court actions. Although police allege the spas violated state and federal laws against prostitution, smuggling and “slave traffic,” no criminal charges have been filed. Two of the spas remain open for business.

Some of the women told investigators they had paid as much as $40,000 to be smuggled from Asia, to Mexico, entering the United States through Texas, Arizona and other states, the documents say.

The women performed massages and sexual services for $80 to $160, the affidavits allege. The women would keep $20, with the balance going to the spa’s manager, documents say. The women also paid $30 a day for room and board at the spas, documents say.

Some of the women entered the country legally but stayed illegally, police said. None could provide immigration paperwork, officials’ statements say.

“The women’s passports are held, and they are not free to leave until they have paid the smuggling debt,” Essex Detective Rick Garey said in a sworn statement.

AP-ES-07-18-04 0945EDT