19 July 2006
Associated Press Newswires

ROME (AP) - Authorities freed about 100 Poles forced into virtual slavery as Italian and Polish police arrested 25 people involved in a human trafficking ring that brought farm workers to Italy.

The arrests Tuesday capped a six-month investigation, Italian prosecutor Lorenzo Lerario said in the southern city of Bari. Poland 's national police chief Marek Bienkowski also announced the arrests from Warsaw.

"Gangsters working in Poland recruited people looking for seasonal jobs picking fruit and vegetables in Italy through announcements in local newspapers," Bienkowski told a news conference.

He said workers had to pay travel costs and a one-time work-finders fee of up to $280. But once in Italy, their situation quickly deteriorated. The workers were promised $6.30-$7.50 per hour before leaving, but received only $1.25 an hour after arriving, Bienkowski said.

They were quartered in barracks with horrible sanitary conditions and had to pay for food and board, which pushed most of them into debt.

Three Poles, two Ukrainians and one Algerian ran the "labor camps," going so far as to call each other "kapos," the term for guards at Nazi camps during World War II, Bienkowski said.

There were cases of forced prostitution, rapes and beatings of those resisting the poor conditions, Bienkowski said. "A few of the workers committed suicide," he said.

The 25 were charged with human trafficking and deprivation of freedom.

Italian Interior Minister Giuliano Amato praised the cooperation between Italian and Polish police in fighting "an extremely serious crime that strikes the weakest people."

Police have already spoken with over 300 people connected with the case, and expect to question another 700.