Gangmastering among migrants from the Monastir CAS, an investigation that started from a protest over poor wages

They were organized in everything: they hired foreigners for a few euros, took them from the Monastir reception center and accompanied them to the farms and vineyards of some wineries in the south of the island, making them work illegally for five euros an hour. No insurance, no health protection, even ten hours of work in the fields. The group that exploited migrants was blocked this morning by the Police, in collaboration with the Labor Inspectorate: at the end of the investigations coordinated by the prosecutor Giangiacomo Pilia, five crime suspects were arrested.

Provincia di Cagliari

Migranti reclutati e impiegati in nero nei vigneti e nelle aziende agricole del Cagliaritano

Five Pakistani citizens residing in Cagliari were accompanied to prison after the operation of the second widespread crime section of the Flying Squad of Cagliari: they are accused of having created a criminal association aimed at illicit intermediation and exploitation of illegal work, with violation of national contracts and workplace safety regulations. Two other Pakistanis, the drivers of the group, are also under investigation.

The arrests were made because three of the suspects were about to return to their country: one was supposed to leave today. Hence the urgency of the measures.
As reconstructed by the Mobile investigators, coordinated by the manager Fabrizio Mustaro, the detainees reached the Monastir reception center every morning: they made them board two vans to take them to the farms.

The investigation began last June after a complaint from one of the foreigners. "They were paid five euros an hour and the foreigners also had to organize themselves for lunch," explained Mustaro. Twelve people attributable to the farms and wineries were also investigated: they used the workers by exploiting them and taking advantage of their state of need. At dawn this morning, 60 agents from the Mobile, the Abbasanta Crime Prevention Department and the Cagliari Mobile Department went into action.
Two of the arrested people lived in Donori, two in Settimo San Pietro and one in the extraordinary reception centre. They also provided fake invoices made by two companies registered to two suspects. Numerous telephone interceptions, images taken with hidden cameras and GPS placed in the organization's vehicles.