The National Police have arrested three Romanian citizens in Aspe (Alicante) for enslaving several compatriots in agricultural tasks in which they were forced to work 10-hour days for a salary of 40 euros per week.
As reported by the Higher Police Headquarters of the Valencian Community in a statement, those arrested retained the documentation of these people as extortion and transported them every day to agricultural farms. The detainees are charged with the crimes of human trafficking, extortion, criminal group and crime against workers' rights.
It was the Romanian authorities who raised the alarm about the possible retention of the victims, the same sources have reported.
Given the seriousness of the events, the National Police agents assigned to Group 2 of the Unit Against Immigration and Document Falsehood Networks (UCRIF) of the Provincial Police Station of Alicante took charge of the investigation, carrying out a series of efforts through which they found out the specific location of the farm in which these people were being exploited for labor.
After being identified, the agents verified that one of the two exploited workers was the person who had raised the alarm about their situation, so after being asked by the agents if they were being held, coerced or exploited at work, this man stated Yes and asked the agents for help.
Once in private, the victim told the agents that after requesting a loan of 100 euros from another of his compatriots, this being the driver of the vehicle that took them to the farm and picked them up, he gave him the money with the condition that each month that passed without collecting the debt would double the amount.
Just at that time and due to the pandemic, the victim had to return to his country, so he could not pay off the debt. After returning to Spain, the lender asked him to pay the debt that had risen to 3,000 euros. After this, he withheld his documentation and forced him to work on farms 10 hours a day in both Spain and France, paying him only 40 euros a week so that he could eat and being temporarily housed in containers set up as homes in an undignified and unhealthy manner.
The victim has remained in this situation for around two years along with other compatriots, and estimates that he has paid the investigated person around 90,000 euros through the work carried out, although he still claims the aforementioned debt of 3,000 euros.
On the other hand, he also stated that he had not reported his situation before and had not fled for fear of the consequences, since he considers both this man and his wife very dangerous.
The agents found out that the owner of the agricultural holding collaborated with the person who had coerced and exploited these two workers, and that the salary of these two employees was deposited into bank accounts that belonged to the main investigator and his wife, for so the money was never going to go to the workers.
After carrying out other inquiries and police actions, the agents verified that two other men, also victims of the criminal group, were working on other lands, also owned by the owner of the aforementioned property.
In the search carried out by the agents at the home of the leader of the criminal group, 1,650 euros and 1,802 Romanian lei (official currency of Romania) in cash were seized.
Several bank statements were also seized in the name of both those investigated and several of their relatives in which there was an accumulated balance of more than 130,000 euros, money from bank transfers made by French agricultural companies that deposited the money into those bank accounts. for the work done by the victims of this criminal group.
In addition, several payrolls were also found in the names of the four victims, but after the agents checked their Social Security information, none of these workers were listed as registered.
Finally, the agents located both the leader of the organization and his wife, who was the one who received the workers' salaries in her bank accounts, and on the other hand, the owner of the agricultural properties, all of whom were detained for the alleged commission of the crimes of human trafficking, extortion, criminal group and crime against workers' rights.
The detainees, two men and a woman, between 24 and 47 years of age, and of Romanian nationality, were placed at the disposal of the Investigative Court acting as guard of Novelda.
The agents assisted the victims and put them in contact with social services so that they could receive the necessary assistance and be able to resolve their current social situation.
