Police are casting a widening net over what appears to be a multi-pronged human trafficking sex ring in the city whose tentacles extend across the country.

On Wednesday, officers raided a suite in the 200 block of 6 Ave. S.E. where they seized 10 cellphones and two computers they believe were used to post Internet ads promoting and recruiting for prostitution.

A Canadian man and a Hong Kong woman were arrested, with the male being released.

The woman, Siu Ling Wong, 36, is in Canadian Border Services Agency custody and attended a deportation hearing yesterday.

Police say the latest raid is likely related to one conducted late last month on a hair salon at 4105 4 St. N.W. which led to a trafficking in persons charge against Linh Quy To, 52, said Staff Sgt. Colin Adair.

"We know there's a link between the initial search warrants and this," said Adair.

"We still have to go through several exhibits to find what the connections are."

Police say they suspect the downtown suite was also used to co-ordinate the movement across the country of those involved in the sex trade.

"Human trafficking is very difficult for us in North American to comprehend," said Adair.

"There's got to be some organized crime element to it."

He also acknowledged as an Internet-related activity likely more common in Calgary and other places than police are aware.

"Anything that technical is hard to track," said Adair.

"It's hard to say how much is out there ... it can happen in any part of the city where you have a computer."

The man swept up in the latest raid hasn't been identified but police say charges are pending.

Wong was ordered detained by Immigration and Refugee Board member Geoff Rempel pending deportation.

Government lawyer Catherine King said Wong was in Canada illegally.

Wong's lawyer, Gavin Grant, suggested Wong, who is pregnant, could be released on a bond posted by the Canadian citizen she married in September, a month after she was supposed to go home.

BILL.KAUFMANN@SUNMEDIA.CA