Illegal Labor Ring Exploits Moroccan Farm Workers in Northern France

Dilapidated and dirty hut serving as a canteen, or even a dormitory, lack of sanitation, difficult schedules, meager wages from which they had to deduct the cost of food... Moroccan employees lived in deplorable conditions and were exploited by an illegal work network active in Neuf-Marché. This network, whose members are representatives of the Moroccan community in the Argenteuil region, will later be dismantled near Gournay-en-Bray, reports Actu.fr. They received sums ranging from 7,000 to 15,000 euros and promised to provide the Moroccans with a work visa allowing them to come to French territory.

On Tuesday, two defendants appeared before the Dieppe criminal court. One, aged 62, is the head of a company specially created by the second, aged 44. They are accused of having exploited Moroccan agricultural workers during the lockdown periods. The conditions offered to the workers show "the will of the defendants to relegate the life of their employees to a bestial, survival state. They wanted to create a lasting activity of modern slavery," declared Étienne Thieffry, Public Prosecutor.

He requested 18 months in prison, including 9 months suspended probation for 2 years and a fine of 20,000 € for the older one. He also requested 10 months suspended prison sentence and a fine of 5,000 € for the younger one. In addition, he demands a permanent ban on managing any company for the two. The defendants "have chosen vulnerable people, uprooted them before exploiting them. We promise them the Eldorado and offer them hell," emphasizes the lawyer Benoist. She is demanding 37,469.85 € in damages against the sexagenarian and 56,204.25 € against the forty-year-old. These sums will have to be paid to the Agricultural Social Mutual.