Dozens of Indian workers freed from 'slavery' in Italy

Italian police say they have freed 33 Indian farm labourers from slave-like working conditions in the northern Verona province.

Police have arrested two Indians for bringing the workers into the country by promising them jobs and a better future, but later exploiting them.

Police say they have seized approximately $545,300 from the two men.

Exploitation of migrant workers is in the spotlight in Italy since an Indian fruit picker died last month after his arm was severed in a work accident.

The man was allegedly left on the side of the road following the accident, which also left his legs crushed.

His employer is now under investigation for criminal negligence and manslaughter.

In the latest incident, police say the two men who had brought the 33 Indian men to Italy are being investigated for exploitation of labour.

The exploitation of farmhands – both Italian and migrant - in Italy is a well-known issue.

Thousands of people work in fields, vineyards and greenhouses dotted across the country, often without contracts and in highly dangerous conditions.

In a statement sent to the BBC, police said the Indian workers were promised entry into Italy and seasonal work permits by their employers before they were brought to the Verona countryside.

They were asked to pay €17,000 ($18,554, £14,293) or 1.5m rupees each - a substantial sum for the workers who were mostly from poor families. To raise the funds, police said, some pawned their family assets while others borrowed the money from the employers.

Upon arrival, they were made to work 10-12 hours a day for seven days a week for wages as low as €4 per hour. And even that sum was not paid to them as it went towards settling the debt they owed their employers.

Their passports were also confiscated as soon as they arrived in Italy and they were banned from leaving their "dilapidated" apartments.

"Every morning, the workers piled into vehicles covered in tarpaulin where they hid among boxes of vegetables until they reached the Verona countryside for work," the police statement said

Searches of their apartments showed the workers were "forced to live in precarious and degrading conditions" and "in total violation of health and hygiene regulations", it added.

The rescued workers have received their passports back and are being helped by social services and a migration organisation to relocate to safer housing and working conditions.

Undocumented labourers across Italy are often subject to a system known as “caporalato” – a gangmaster system which sees middlemen illegally hiring labourers who are then forced to work for very low salaries. Even workers with regular papers are often paid well below the legal wage.

Almost a quarter of the agricultural workforce in Italy in 2018 was employed under this method, according to a study by the Italian National Institute of Statistics. The practice also affects workers in the service industry and building sectors.

It was outlawed in Italy in 2016 after an Italian woman died of a heart attack after working 12-hour shifts picking and sorting grapes, for which she was paid €27 a day.