Four farm workers killed in Calabria: two Pakistani nationals arrested
Two men of Pakistani origin have been arrested in the Calabrian region on suspicion of confining four foreign workers in a van and setting it alight. A sole survivor has recounted the horrors of exploitation in the fields.
Four farm workers killed in Calabria: two Pakistani nationals arrested
In the Calabria region in southern Italy, two Pakistani citizens were arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of locking four foreign farm workers in a minibus and setting them alight. One man survived the attack. The victims are believed to be three Afghans and one Pakistani.
According to reports from Joyn.at, the two suspects allegedly demanded money for transport to the fields, a sum that the future victims refused to pay. In response, the two men allegedly poured petrol into the vehicle and then threw an incendiary object inside. The surviving witness recounted that his friends had repeatedly asked the two Pakistani men to pay them wages for work carried out in the strawberry fields between Calabria and Basilicata, but had never received any money.
The survivor also spoke of a "large Pakistani mafia" in the agricultural sector. The two arrested men allegedly threatened him and his companions with knives and guns to force them to work.
The Bishop of Cassano allo Ionio, Francesco Savino, condemned the exploitation of foreigners in the fields of southern Italy: "Enough with the pernicious habit of considering it normal that people who have come from far away reap, work, live and die here as bodies without history". Trade unions also spoke of an "unspeakable horror".
The CGIL, Italy's largest trade union, called on politicians to take stronger measures "to combat the inhumane daily reality that many workers, often migrants, experience in our fields". According to CGIL estimates, up to 230,000 people work without a contract, more than a quarter of the country's seasonal farm workers.
In Italy, "caporalato", an illegal form of recruitment of foreign labour through intermediaries, is particularly widespread in the south. In 2016, a law was introduced providing for up to six years' imprisonment for labour exploitation in illegal field work, a sentence that can be increased by a further two years in cases of violence or serious threats. However, trade unions criticise that inspections remain insufficient.
Source: Google News AT — Crime (de)