A Carabinieri investigation has uncovered a new case of gangmastering in the fertile Caserta countryside. A farmer has been placed under house arrest on charges of exploiting four non-EU laborers, who were forced to work in inhumane conditions.
The investigation, coordinated by the Public Prosecutor's Office of North Naples, uncovered a system of exploitation based on the neediness of the workers, who lacked residence permits and were therefore at the mercy of their employers. The laborers were paid pittance, well below collective bargaining agreements, and forced to work grueling shifts of over 10 hours a day, without any protection or day off.
Their homes were often dilapidated shipping containers, lacking sanitation or heating. The workers lived in precarious conditions, subjected to strict control by the employer, who forced them to ask for permission even to leave the company.
It is a bleak picture that emerges from this investigation. These workers were treated like slaves, deprived of their dignity and exploitation. The investigations revealed that the 4 workers had entered Italy in exchange for the payment of large sums of money to foreign traffickers, with the promise of secure employment and a residence permit.
The workers had to provide, among other things, with their limited resources, in addition to their own, also for the support of their relatives in their countries of origin, which is why they were forced to accept particularly disadvantageous working conditions, having no other income or means of support and also being without a regular residence permit in the national territory and without documents.
The 4 exploited farm workers have been placed in protection
The workers, after the intervention of the authorities, were placed in protection, to safeguard their dignity and individual freedom. The evident existence of a well-founded danger of repetition of the conduct has therefore imposed the adoption of the precautionary measure mentioned above.
Verified Source
Choose the social channel you want to subscribe to