13 Poles arrested in UK over suspected 'modern slavery'
PR dla Zagranicy
Victoria Bieniek
26.01.2018 10:27
Thirteen Polish nationals suspected of "modern slavery" have been arrested in central England while five alleged victims have been "safeguarded", police said.
Photo: West Midlands Police/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Police carried out simultaneous raids on a number of homes in Handsworth, near the town of Birmingham, on Thursday and also stopped a minibus which they suspected was carrying victims, West Midlands Police said in a statement.
“The force acted on intelligence that people were being brought into the UK; then offered out to work and receiving low pay as ‘gangmasters’ receive a cut of their wage,” the police statement said.
The suspects, nine men and four women aged 18 to 60, are to be questioned by police.
UK charities are offering the alleged victims, three men and two women, emotional support as well as food and shelter.
Last October, a man from Nottingham, central England, was jailed for enslaving two men, at least one of whom was Polish.
According to the Global Slavery Index 2016, there were an estimated 1.2 million people in modern slavery in Europe and nearly 46 million worldwide. (vb/pk)