Italian tax police free 33 Indian workers from ‘slave-like’ conditions on farms

ROME – Italian tax police said on Saturday they had freed 33 Indian farm workers from “slave-like working conditions” in the northern province of Verona and confiscated almost half a million euros from the two suspected gang leaders.

According to police, the two suspected perpetrators, also Indians, persuaded their compatriots to come to Italy and paid 17,000 euros each for a seasonal work permit.

The men were forced to work on the farms for up to ten to twelve hours a day, seven days a week, for only four euros an hour, in conditions described by the Italian police as “slavery.”

Some migrants were also asked to continue working for free and to pay an additional 13,000 euros for a permanent work permit that they would never have received in reality, police added.

The two alleged perpetrators are being investigated for crimes such as slavery and labor exploitation. The victims are being offered protection, job opportunities and legal residency papers.

The issue of modern forms of slavery in Italy recently came into the spotlight following the case of Satnam Singh. The 31-year-old black-clad Indian farm worker bled to death after his employer left him outside his house after a packing machine severed his arm.

A Moody’s report published in March showed that Italy consistently had the highest number of modern slavery cases in Europe, with around 32,000 cases recorded in the five years following 2018.