ARCHIVED - 3 Rumanians charged with exploiting and enslaving compatriots in Mazarrón

Victims were offered accommodation and employment but were denied access to their wages

Three Rumanians, two men and a woman all belonging to the same family have been arrested by the Guardia Civil in Mazarrón on charges of exploiting numerous of their compatriots by providing them with accommodation and finding them work but then keeping the wages for themselves.

The investigation leading to the arrests began in July, when 13 Rumanian nationals living in Puerto de Mazarrón reported to the Guardia that they were living in “semi-slavery” having come to the Region of Murcia from other parts of Spain. They explained that they had been recruited to work in agricultural concerns and offered accommodation by a supposed benefactor but had been subjected to threats and physical violence as their wages were withheld from them, and were living in such poverty that they could not even afford food and other necessary items.

Further information was gathered as investigating officers concentrated on a married couple and the brother of one of them, all three in their thirties, and it was found that although various of the victims had opened bank accounts the address supplied was that of the three suspects: in this way they appropriated the corresponding credit and debit cards and controlled the accounts.

In addition, it was ascertained that the properties in which the victims were living had previously been occupied by the suspects, and each was paying monthly rent of up to 150 euros. The “slaves” were kept under vigilance at work as one of the arrested presented himself as the leader of their group, and the agricultural companies hiring them were unaware of the situation.

On arresting the three, the Guardia also confiscated 2,500 euros in cash, various items of jewellery, a top-end motor vehicle and the bank cards of the victims.

The case is now in the hands of the courts of Totana and while the investigation remains open the social services are helping the victims as they seek respectable employment.

For more local news, events and other information go to the Mazarrón section of Murcia Today.

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