Police carried out a series of raids on 18 Vancouver-area massage parlours on Thursday and made 108 arrests, but many of those businesses were open for business as usual on Saturday.

The raids, carried out late Thursday, involved police from Surrey, Coquitlam, Burnaby and Richmond. One parlour was located in Vancouver.

But so far, no charges have been laid. Police have released the 108 people they arrested.

The RCMP said the investigation is in its preliminary stage, and charges may still be forthcoming.

Still, that has led some to ask why federal Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day issued a statement praising the raids by the RCMP.

"We were able to expose these operations, help victims in need, and halt criminals in their tracks," Day's statement said.

According to the RCMP, police targeted parlours suspected of having connections to the sex trade, organized crime and human trafficking operations. Police say some of the women working in the parlours were brought to Canada as sex slaves.

"Victims are exploited and controlled through fear and debt and forced to work in the sex trade generating large sums of money for organized crime," RCMP Supt. Bill Ard said.

But women from one business visited by CTV News on Saturday insisted that they are not victims of human trafficking.

"Some places, but not our place," said one woman, who didn't give her name.

Asked if they were selling sex, one woman told CTV News that she had studied Chinese medicine in China and provides acupuncture and massage at the business where she works.

Twenty-six of those arrested were clients at the parlours, while human trafficking investigators interviewed another 78 women -- many of them described as being Asian or South Asian.

"Of those 78 women, 52 agreed to seek immediate assistance from the provincial victims centre response team," Ard had said on Thursday.

However, CTV Vancouver's Lisa Rossington later reported that none of the women have since asked for help.

Pressed to demonstrate that the women were being held in Canada against their will, authorities admitted all of those arrested are in Canada legally.

And because none have said they were exploited, it's unclear how the police investigation will proceed.

According to Rob Johnston of the Canada Border Services Agency, officials do not deport victims of human trafficking from the country.

"Under the new guidelines and laws, these victims can be issued temporary residence permits by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. And if in our work we do locate victims, we are in immediate contact with the RCMP and with Citizenship and Immigration Canada," Johnston said on Thursday. 

Ministry of Children and Family Development spokesman Robin Pike said none of the parlour workers appear to be underage.

The RCMP said they have evidence that sexual activity took place at several locations, but the workers deny that.

With a report from CTV Vancouver's Dave Pinton