Canadian armed Police have arrested Bermudian Tarik Foster in a child prostitution crackdown which saw three girls rescued.

Foster, who was the victim in the notorious Wellington Oval attempted murder case, was one of two men picked up in a dawn raid on a Toronto motel on Sunday.

Foster, 26, has since been charged with living on the avails of prostitution (under 18), forcible confinement and pointing a firearm and has been remanded pending a re-appearance in court on Thursday where he is expected to apply for bail.

The other man, Dwayne Powell, 26, from Ontario, had six charges levelled against him including sexual assault, two counts of assault with a weapon, living on avails of prostitution (under 18) and forcible confinement.

The Toronto Sun reported a tip-off sparked the swoop early on Sunday which saw the Emergency Task Force and Gun and Gang unit called out because the suspects were thought to be carrying firearms.

Police found a 15-year-old girl after learning that the teen was being forced to work as a prostitute "by a number of men", Toronto Police said.

Foster and Powell were found at the motel, along with "two other girls in need of protection," in the early morning raid, Police said.

Det. Constable Tony Aiello told The Royal Gazette: "There are nine charges. I believe we are looking at some serious time with these, if they are convicted of course — more than five years.

"At the time of Foster's arrest he was with two girls — aged 14 and 15."

Police are now trying to locate other girls. Asked how wide the alleged criminal network might have spread, Det. Con. Aiello said there was an Antiguan connection as well as a Bermuda angle.

He said: "I believe there is some contact back in Bermuda but I cannot say for sure right now. It deals with my investigation two years ago — there was some contact back home.

"We have had some dealings with Foster in the past. There were girls from overseas. The allegation was parties involved were from Antigua."

He said Foster had been arrested, charged but not convicted.

Sunday's raid had gone without incident, said Det. Con. Aiello, and the charge of pointing a gun related to allegations made by the complainant.

He said of the raid: "We caught him off guard luckily — at the time of the arrest there were no firearms located there."

Police are not sure how long Foster had been in Canada or why he had gone there.

"He's a nomadic person, he moves from place to place," said Det. Con. Aiello.

Canadian police are now liaising with Bermudian counterparts as they build a case but Canadian immigration officials would not say when Foster arrived in Canada or why because of privacy laws.

Det. Con. Aiello said: "We are attempting to place a detention order to keep them in custody until their trial and we are attempting to locate more victims who we believe are out there on the street.

"It is difficult having the girls turn because the elements of this offence involve brainwashing and elements of control — and they are young obviously, sometimes as young as 15.

"They are on the street and may have no safe place to go so we sometimes cannot offer safety 24/7 to these girls."

Employees at the Deluxe Inn said they never suspected anything was going on at their downtown motel.

Detectives are scouring Toronto for another man in connection with the alleged offence.

In April 2004, Foster was left for dead after three men chopped him with machetes at the Wellington Oval in a clash involving 40 youths.

After a one-month retrial, Ki-Roy Kinta Butterfield, Jahcai Morris and Tahir Nesta Bascome were found guilty of attempted murder.