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CHARLOTTE – A conference Wednesday at Charlotte’s Police and Fire Training Academy focused on human trafficking, a growing problem across the state.

It's believed that there are as many as 17,000 people trafficked each year in the U.S. and North Carolina is considered a gateway for rings across the East Coast.

“[Interstates] 85 and 95 go through our state so North Carolina becomes part of larger rings of human trafficking,” said Estefania San Juan, of the human trafficking task force. “Also, our state has grown so we have a lot of migrant workers.”

Experts say the majority of human trafficking is connected to the sex trade but in North Carolina, especially in the eastern portion of the state, they may laborers in the agricultural field.

The conference not only looked at foreign trafficking rings, but also those operating domestically. The average age of the people involved in these rings is between 12 and 14.