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GreekReporter.comGreek NewsCrimeSeven Charged With Keeping Slave Labor

Seven Charged With Keeping Slave Labor

mushroom farmIn yet another sordid story of immigrants being exploited, five Greeks and two Romanians have been arrested on charges of forcing 60 Romanians brought to Greece on the promise of a job to work like slaves on a mushroom farm in western Greece.
Authorities were alerted after two of the workers escaped and went to the Romanian Embassy in Athens which alerted police. The suspects were accused of human trafficking and using unlawful workers.
The laborers told investigators that they were forced to live in squalid conditions in an abandoned warehouse, working as much as 12 hours a day, often without pay. They said they were occasionally given five euros, but were also forced to pay rent of 150 euros per month each for a small cubicle made from plywood partitions.
One of the suspects arrested is 53-year-old local farmer who is believed to have run the racket by arranging with other farmers in the area to employ the workers. Authorities said it was believed the farm hands were brought to Greece by the other four suspects, with the Romanians acting as recruiters. A search of the 53-year-old’s home uncovered 11,000 euros in cash.
Greek farms have often come under fire for employing laborers illegally and making them work in unacceptable conditions. The most recent case was that of Bangladeshi strawberry pickers in the Peloponnese who were shot at in April by a farm’s foremen for demanding the wages they were owed.

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