Police say they have rescued 116 children who were forced into child labor in the country's Volta Lake area.

Human Trafficking Unit leader Superintendent Patience Quaye said Friday that police found parents in fishing communities who had sold children as young as four years old for sums as low as 150 Ghana cedis — about $100.

Quaye says child labor is a widespread problem in the West African nation. She says police rescued 284 children in a similar operation last year.

Interpol, which worked with Ghanaian police, said the operation earlier this month led to 28 arrests and convictions.

Interpol also said they conducted a separate operation in the capital, Accra, that rescued 29 minors who had been trafficked into the sex industry.