Italian authorities have accused four Romanian men of exploiting undocumented foreign workers in Sicily, forcing them to work 70 hours a week and live in housing without electricity or water, police said Friday.
Prosecutors in Enna -- the central Sicilian highlands known for high-quality citrus production -- placed the alleged de facto boss of the operation under house arrest, while his three alleged subordinates were ordered to report to judicial authorities, police in Palermo said in a statement.
Police launched the investigation after four Moroccan citizens filed a complaint alleging that, between January and May 2024, they worked as farmhands picking oranges in the municipalities of Enna and Regalbuto under exploitative conditions.
According to police, investigators found that the workers were forced to work 70 hours a week without days off, earning about one euro for each crate of oranges, while being forced to accept these conditions "through threats and violence".
The three subordinates were accused of housing workers in accommodation without electricity or water, deducting rent from their wages and threatening them with eviction if they did not accept the conditions.
The investigation remains in a preliminary phase, police said.
Police said the four Moroccan workers, as victims of serious labour exploitation, are now eligible to apply for a special Italian residence permit.
Labour exploitation of migrant farm workers remains a persistent problem in Italy, where illegal gangmasters known as "caporali" recruit vulnerable workers for farms and often subject them to low pay, excessive hours and poor living conditions.
The latest episode comes amid renewed attention on such exploitation following the deaths of four labourers who were burned alive in Calabria in June.
Reported cases of labour exploitation in Italy rose by nearly 50 percent in 2024, reaching 1,249 compared with 834 the previous year, according to a March 2026 report by labour rights group Altro Diritto, the Placido Rizzotto Observatory and the FLAI-CGIL union.
