A Rochdale factory raid has rescued 13 Eastern European immigrants who were getting paid less than £2 per hour for working more than 80 hours per week.
During Monday’s ‘Operation Retriever’ raid, Greater Manchester Police arrested three men aged 51, 43 and 40 on enslavement and trafficking offences.
The 20 workers were promised accommodation and jobs but instead were forced to live in cramped, unsanitary conditions and were subjected to verbal and physical abuse from their bosses at the Caldershaw Centre on Ings Lane.
Detective Inspector James Faulkner, of Greater Manchester Police’s Rochdale Division, said: “This is another excellent result from a joint operation which has strived to uncover and protect vulnerable victims from the men and women hoping to exploit them for their own financial gain.
“The men and women working in the factory have told us that they were subjected to physical and verbal assaults at the hands of their employers and forced to work more than 80-hours before ending up with around £25 for their week’s work.
“This is a typical example of how modern slavery can work in the UK.”
LIVING STANDARDS: police found 10 of the workers living in ‘terrible’ conditions
The three were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to require another person to perform forced or compulsory labour and conspiracy to commit trafficking offences. Among those arrested was a 24-year-old man on suspicion of immigration offences.
DI Faulkner said: “The men and women are promised accommodation and jobs, but are forced to live in cramped, terrible conditions before being taken to work in a factory for more than 12 hours each day.
“At the end of the week, the factory owners pay them around £125 for their 80 hours, but then take up to £100 away immediately for rent, travel and other expenses.
“This leaves the men and women effectively working for pennies, while simultaneously ensuring they remain reliant on the people enslaving them.”
SQUALOR: scenes of where up to four people would sleep in a room
When they searched the property, they found 10 Eastern European immigrants living in terrible conditions, with up to three or four sleeping in each room.
“When you consider that this factory was producing frames and pictures for major high street companies, with contracts running into the millions of pounds, it proves just how much money these men stood to make from this exploitation,” explained DI Faulkner.
“Now GMP and our partners in Rochdale Council will be striving to safeguard these victims from further exploitation, and will do our utmost to ensure that the people responsible for this injustice are punished to the full extent of the law.”
The successful raid follows the first phase of the Operation in November, when 15 people were arrested across Greater Manchester and five charged for their involvement in a trafficking ring.
A victim found by Operation Retriever’s initial phase was a pregnant woman who was sold into a sham marriage and was nearly tricked into aborting her baby.
Speaking on the Rochdale raid, Mark Widdup, Director of Economy and Environment with Rochdale Borough Council, said: “The raid is another example of agencies working together to share, connect and act on information, quickly and effectively.
“Through truly ground breaking initiatives like PET, the Partnership Enforcement Team, we use all our tools and powers, be it through housing, revenues and benefits or trading standards to disrupt criminality in the Borough.
“We want to send a clear message that Rochdale Council and the Police are committed to rooting out criminal behaviour, bringing the perpetrators to justice and helping victims.”
Image courtesy of Google Maps, with thanks.
