ATHENS: Greek police have dismantled a migrant trafficking network accused of abducting and torturing two people, the Athens News Agency reported Sunday. Police operations early Saturday targeted four houses in the northern city of Thessaloniki, during which 13 foreigners aged 19 to 26 were arrested.

A 20-year-old man believed to be the mastermind of a ring that allegedly transported migrants within Greece and abroad was among those detained.

According to police, the traffickers had transported 22 migrants between mid-March and mid-April.

They also are accused of locking two migrants, aged 16 and 21, in a shed and demanding money from their families. One of the hostages alleged that a trafficker tried to rape him. Electric irons and sticks said to have been used by gang members to torture their hostages were seized by the police, along with multiple mobile phones, a laptop computer, identity documents and five powerful vehicles used to transport the migrants.