A group of thirteen Slovaks were freed from a kind of enslavement in the UK this week after British police raided the Iqbal Bros factory in Rochdale, where the Slovaks were being held captive to work at sub-standard wages making picture frames.
Two men, Mohamad Iqbal and Najum Mohammed Iqbal, are being charged on suspicion of conspiracy to require another person to perform forced or compulsory labour, BBC news reports. The two brothers were kept in custody pending trial, while three other man are being investigated but released on bail.
The Slovak immigrants reportedly embraced the police on their arrival and pleaded for protection, according to daily Hospodarkse Noviny. They reported they had been victims of physical and verbal attacks from their employers and to work over eighty hours a week for just over EUR 30. The company even has lucrative contracts worth millions of pounds, according to Greater Manchester Police, who classed it as a typical case of modern slavery that is happening in the UK.
It turns out your fellow countrymen were liars. You should be ashamed of them.
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/four-accused-running-illegal-rochdale-11477936
The ragheads employed them, not a group of “my fellow countrymen” . The dopey group of Slovaks got what they deserved and how were they trapped ? Shackled to the work benches, lashed to the radiators ?? Oh of course those really nasty violent tongue lashings, must have felt like waterboarding ??? If they did work eighty hours a week for 30 euro ( I think not ! ) then what was the difference to the jobs they were doing in Eastern Slovakia ???
Shocked about Slovaks, hardly with a collective IQ of 100 between them all , I am surprised they did not work 28 hours a day, 9 days a week .
Ah good to be back for a while . :-)))
This is just the tip of the iceberg, i have lived in Slovakia for a long time now and over the years i have watched people going to England on hope and false promises. This is not just a Slovakian problem a lot of eastern European countries are targeted by crime gangs because there is a poor wage system in place here. I am English and proud of it and have faith in the British system to slow the flow of the crime gangs there. But as always it IS the job of the governments in Europe to combat this to protect there people.
A truly disgraceful case that shames all my fellow countrymen and I am sure will have shocked the majority of UK citizens.
To my Slovak brothers and sisters, please check any offer of employment before going to the UK and if you feel you are being exploited – go to the police, they will act and protect you.
On the only bright note to come from this story, the 13 individuals concerned will not have to wait years to get justice or compensation. The scroates responsible for this will be behind bars in double quick time!