In December 2017, an officer with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Department of Homeland Security, was working on a case with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in eastern Virginia. The agencies were investigating eight individuals involved in human trafficking. The officer logged on to the FBI’s National Data Exchange (N-DEx) System to search for the main phone numbers in the case, which led him to an N-DEx record. The victim in that record had been kidnapped by an unknown subject and taken to West Virginia, where she was beaten, prostituted, and subdued with heroin. The victim eventually escaped from her captor and went to the police. This N-DEx System record, combined with additional investigation, led authorities to the previously unknown kidnapper. The subject became part of the larger human trafficking investigation and will most likely be part of the main indictments in the case.

For more information about how your agency can use the N-DEx System to help further its investigations, contact the N-DEx Program Office at ndex@leo.gov or call 304-625-0555.