Cuneo, immigrants exploited and beaten: three precautionary measures issued

The Cuneo State Police has executed an order for the application of the precautionary measure issued, its request from the Public Prosecutor's Office of Asti, from GIP of the Court of Asti against three foreign subjects of Moroccan, Macedonian and Albanian nationality, recipients, respectively, the first and second of the measure of house arrest and the third of the precautionary measure of the temporary ban on carrying out professional activities.

I foreseen contested crimes and punished by art. art. 603 bis c. I n. 1, c. IV n. 1 cp and art. 22 c. XII and XII bis Legislative Decree nr. 286/1998 (Illicit intermediation and exploitation of labor, violations of the legislation relating to the residence of foreigners in TN) have allowed the police officers of the Flying Squad to ascertain within the framework of a complex investigation coordinated by the Asti Public Prosecutor's Office, support of technical activities, and the suspects, in separately from each other, through individual companies attributable to them operating in Novello (Cuneo) Mango (Cuneo) and Alba (Cuneo) they recruited labor with the aim of assigning them to work for third parties in exploitative conditions.

Particularly the aforementioned taking advantage of the state of need, they recruited native workers, predominantly, African, (Gambia, Guinea, Nigeria, Morocco, Egypt, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Albania) largely irregular on National territory, devoid of validity housing solutions, to use them in the vineyard with third partiesin total violation of the regulations employment contracts such as: 1) rsalaries with hourly wages of around €6/hour, clearly, different from national and territorial contracts; 2) failure to comply with working time regulations; 3) failure to comply with legislation on safety and hygiene at work; 4) subjecting workers to working conditions with degrading methods of surveillance and visual inspection, with threats of not being paid or being removed.

Even, in two confirmed cases against the first of the three suspects, native of Morocco, some workers, dopo having complained about the exploitative conditions in which they found themselves, they came punished, in violent beatings, one of which with the use of an iron rod taken from the row supporting a vineyard, which gave its name to this operation, "Iron Rod”.

Please specify that the suspects operated separately from each other, indicative of an alarming spread of confirmed crimes, and All three were charged with the aggravating circumstance of having recruited more than three workers and of having used foreigners without a residence permit. or with an expired residence permit. Furthermore, against the suspect of Macedonian nationality, legal representative of a company operating in Mango, it was also ascertained that the workers were placed inside the building located in that municipality owned by the Macedonian in a situation of degradation, overcrowding and precarious hygienic conditions.

During the operation, conducted by the Mobile Squad of the Cuneo State Police, approximately 40 units participated of the Police Headquarters with the reinforcement of the Piedmont Crime Prevention Department, of canine units and of the Scientific Police, as well as of the Immigration Office for the analysis of the positions of controlled foreign entities on the national territory.

At the same time as the execution of the precautionary measures, 5 vehicles were subjected to preventive seizure, used by the suspects to accompany the laborers to the workplace, as well as the property owned by the Macedonian citizen was subjected to preventive seizure, used to house farm workers in the conditions described above in the Mango area (Cuneo).