Northern Italian police have freed 33 Indian farm laborers from a scheme of exploitation bordering on slavery. According to authorities, two Indian nationals lured the workers with assurances of obtaining jobs and a better life in Italy. Actually, they were made to work for more than 10 hours a day for seven days a week at a minimal salary. Their salary, incidentally, went to pay off the debt to their traffickers. The two men blamed, found with about $545,300 (£420,000) in their possession, are arrested.

Farmworkers are increasingly being mistreated in Italy, both natives and foreign workers. Thousands of individuals work in fields, vineyards, and greenhouses without contracts in dangerous conditions. An Indian fruit picker died a few days ago after the work accident in which his arm was torn off while his legs were crushed. His employer reportedly left him on the roadside and is under investigation for criminal negligence and manslaughter.

The 33 workers rescued in the Province of Verona had paid €17,000 each ($18,554, £14,293) for seasonal work permits and jobs. Some had to pawn family assets or borrow from their employers to raise this. They worked 10-12 hours a day but received only €4 an hour, money that was then used to settle this debt. Their passports were taken away on arrival, and they were housed in crumbling apartments, not allowed out.

Every morning the workers concealed themselves in tarpaulin-covered vehicles and hidden amongst boxes of vegetables to get to work in the Verona countryside. Squads found that they lived in precarious and not at all hygienic conditions, in evident violation of health and hygiene regulations.

The rescued workers have since regained possession of their passports and are receiving assistance from social services and a migration organization in the search for safer housing and employment. Two accused gangmasters face counts of exploitation and slavery.

Migrant workers often without papers fall prey to "caporalato," a term that refers to middlemen who illegally hire laborers for pitiful wages. Documented workers are often paid only a fraction of what the law calls for. In 2018, almost a quarter of the agriculture workforce in Italy was employed under this system which also engulfs service and building sectors. Although it was outlawed in 2016, the practice still persists. The law followed the death of an Italian woman from heart attack after working 12-hour shifts picking and sorting grapes for €27 a day.