Seattle police this week arrested nearly 100 men who had used free classifieds site Craigslist to find prostitutes.

Detectives posted a series of fake adverts on the site over a two-week period and arrested the men who responded to the ads and turned up at a downtown Seattle flat. Fourteen female prostitutes were also arrested.

The arrests follow an operation earlier in the year when detectives used a similar ploy in a local newspaper and Craigslist to arrest eight female prostitutes.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported that US police forces are cracking down on online ads for prostitutes.

Earlier this year police in Oregon and Washington also arrested eight female prostitutes who had advertised through Craigslist.

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