Piacenza: They exploit their fellow countrymen, making them work for a few euros in the fields of the “lower” Piacenza area. 2 foreigners arrested

At the conclusion of an investigation activity conducted jointly by the Carabinieri of the Station of Cortemaggiore (PC) and from those of the NIL (Labor Inspectorate Unit) of Piacenza, in the early hours of March 19, 2025, a measure of pre-trial detention in prison towards 2 foreign citizens, aged 53 and 27, resident in a municipality in the province of Piacenza, considered to be seriously suspected of the crimes of facilitating the presence of illegal aliens in the territory of the State, exploitation of labor and obstruction of justice.

The provision, issued by the GIP of the Court of Piacenza at the request of the local Public Prosecutor's Office, originates from ainvestigative activity started by Carabinieri of the Station of Cortemaggiore in the summer of 2024, when their attention was drawn to the daily movements of numerous vans that, at the first light of dawn, they moved around the countryside of the “Bassa Piacentina” transporting numerous foreign citizens which, as later ascertained, were unloaded on agricultural land where they carried out their work laborers until the evening, to then be picked up with the same vans.

I observation services and the following ones inspection visits carried out jointly by personnel of the Fiorenzuola Company and NIL, they allowed document the conditions of exploitation to which the workers were subjected, subjected to work shifts of up to 12 consecutive hours, with temperatures often above 30°, without holidays or days off.

Extreme working conditions, moreover in violation of all workplace safety and accident prevention regulations and since, as found by the Carabinieri, the workers were not equipped with the required protective devices nor had they undergone the appropriate courses and medical examinations required by current legislation.

A backbreaking job which, however, corresponded to a hourly wage of 5 euros, therefore much lower than that envisaged by the national contract.

But not only that, as emerged from the investigations, The two arrested men allegedly applied further "deductions" to these wages according to them, necessary to cover the rental costs and those related to the handling of unspecified bureaucratic procedures.

Ultimately, in exchange for such exhausting efforts, workers were paid fluctuating amounts. between 200 and 500 euros per month. A system of exploitation of labor, the one organized and managed by the two defendants, which made use of a company registered in the name of the 53-year-old's wife and what he saw, what victims, people aged between between 25 and 67 years old, all compatriots of the two.

Furthermore, those arrested, in order to have manpower to exploit in the ways described above, they would have been paid by several of their compatriots, oscillating sums between 8-10 thousand euros, to ensure obtaining an expired temporary residence permit who, despite the promises and further requests for money made to them, would have continued to employ them, taking advantage of the new condition of illegality.

To such serious conduct, the following would then be added: threats that one of the two allegedly made to the victims, in order to induce them not to testify against them, once they became aware of the ongoing investigations.

Le personal and home searches against those arrested, they then allowed the discovery of administrative and IT material which, deemed to be of investigative interest, was seized.

At the end of the operations, the two arrested were taken to the Novate Prison, available to the Judicial Authority.

A system, the one shed light on by the Carabinieri coordinated by the Piacenza Public Prosecutor's Office, which is part of the sad phenomenon of “gangmaster”, understood as an organised illegal intermediation, aimed at the exploitation of labour and the systematic abuse of workers' rights.

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