Suspected human trafficking gang leader nabbed in Poland

A Pole suspected of leading a gang that sold Poles into virtual slavery on plantations in southern Italy was nabbed by police in Poland Wednesday, a spokesman for Poland's Police Headquarters confirmed. Identified only as Lukasz Z., the man was taken into police custody in Lublin, eastern Poland, along with two female suspects in the human trafficking ring.

In July, a joint operation saw Italian and Polish police free more than a hundred Polish citizens that were being held in Nazi-style labour camps in Italy's Apulia region, close to the cities of Bari and Foggi.

Polish prosecutors investigating the Italian slave labour camps using Polish nationals began questioning victims in the case in mid- October.

Polish justice officials believe that up to 1,000 Poles may have been used as slaves in Nazi-style agricultural labour camps in the Apulia region that forms the heel of Italy's boot.

Warsaw has also urged Rome to help track down dozens of Polish citizens that have gone missing over the past six years after working as slave labourers in southern Italy's tomato fields.

Polish police have published an internet list of more than a hundred missing persons, some of whom could have been murdered by the slave labour gangs.

Justice officials in Poland have already indicted nearly 30 people on human trafficking charges in connection with the case.

Investigators said the Poles were lured to Italy by unscrupulous individuals on the false promise of a decently-paid job.

Once in Apulia, they were forced to work the fields picking tomatoes or artichokes under scorching hot summer temperatures of more than 40 degrees Celsius for up to 15 hours non-stop.

They were paid pitiful wages - often between 15 and 20 euros (20 to 25 dollars) per day. The money was often taken back through extortion.

The Poles were confined to dirty camps with no sanitation or running water. They were given only bread and water to eat and forced to sleep on floors.

Those who tried to rebel were tortured and beaten by armed guards calling themselves "kapo", a term used to describe Nazi concentration camp overseers.
Source:rawstory.com