The suspects own two agricultural sector companies with no employees on the books

ROME (TIP): Two Indian nationals have been arrested for allegedly enslaving 33 farm laborers, all from India, in Italy’s Verona province, according to a media report, weeks after the country was shocked by the tragic death of a Sikh farm worker who bled to death.Fina nce police also seized assets worth 4,75,000 euros from the suspects, who own two agricultural sector companies with no employees on the books and are allegedly total tax evaders, ANSA news agency reported on Saturday.

The two alleged gang masters were arrested on Saturday, July 13, and are under investigation for crimes, including enslavement and labor exploitation, the Italian news agency said.

The issue of modern forms of slavery in Italy recently came to the fore of media attention following the case of 31-year-old Sikh farm laborer Satnam Singh, who bled to death after being abandoned by his employer after a strawberry wrapping machine severed his arm in Lazio, near Rome, last month.

Singh, who was an Indian national, died due to “copious bleeding”, the ANSA news agency earlier reported.

On June 26, India asked Italy to take prompt action against those responsible for Singh’s death.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said last month that Singh, one of thousands of Indian immigrants who work in the fields in the country, was the victim of “inhuman acts”.

“These are inhumane acts that do not belong to the Italian people. I hope that this barbarity will be punished harshly,” she said following a Cabinet meeting.

Gang mastering and the often violent exploitation of migrant farm laborers is a chronic problem in Italy, especially in the south of the country.

Latina hosts thousands of immigrant laborers, many of them Sikhs, working picking fruit and vegetables for the local ‘agro-mafia’, according to Italian media reports.

Workplace accident insurance agency INAIL said recently that fatal accidents in Italy had risen by four to 268 in the first four months of this year.

There were about 100 last year, it said.
(Source: PTI)