In Portugal, a raid on farms in the south of the country has dismantled a network of smugglers of immigrant workers, living in semi-slavery. Thirty-five people were arrested.
With our correspondent in Lisbon, Marie-Line Darcy
The crackdown has been carefully prepared since last January: 400 police and gendarmes have been mobilized to intervene in Alentejo, in central Portugal, where there are large labor-intensive farms. A very sophisticated network of smugglers has been dismantled.
Led by a couple of Romanians, the network included a dozen Portuguese serving as intermediaries in the farms to hire the immigrants recruited and falling under their influence. Confiscated papers, wages reduced to 5 or 10 euros per day, psychological and physical abuse forced immigrants to live in a situation of virtual slavery.
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Priority to relocation
At least 200 workers from countries as diverse as Nepal, India, Moldova, East Timor or Morocco, victims of the network, were thus discovered. Their living conditions were absolutely deplorable. These immigrants, for the most part, wish to continue working on the farms. But we are entering the winter period and employment contracts are suspended. The priority for the authorities and self-help associations is now to be able to decently rehouse these workers.
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