The National Police have arrested three owners of a company in Palma accused of exploiting Latin American employees in irregular situations, whom they threatened and monitored with GPS.
Agents of the National Police have detained three business owners in Palma, all of whom own the same company, for subjecting their undocumented South American workers to a regime of labour exploitation, with constant belittling and serious threats. "If you don't want to, there are many black people who want to work with us," they reportedly said to the victims, according to the investigation.
The scheme began to unravel last June when an employee reported the situation after being on sick leave due to a work accident. Instead of respecting his recovery, the owners initiated a campaign of coercion to force him back to work.
The harassment reached the point where the main suspect sent a friend to monitor and record the worker at his own home. Furthermore, agents discovered that they had hidden a GPS tracking device in the victim's personal vehicle.
The investigation, carried out by UCRIF 1 alongside the Labour and Social Security Inspection, revealed a double standard. Although the company had around twenty legally hired employees, with holidays and severance pay, it maintained a shadow group mainly composed of undocumented Latin Americans.
These latter workers were forced to perform high-risk tasks without training or safety measures, such as lifting heavy weights manually. They were also coerced into driving vehicles without valid permits in Spain, under the direct threat of dismissal.
The lack of scruples extended to the environment: the waste from their activities, including chemical products, was dumped uncontrolled into public containers.
After collecting testimonies and conducting three police inspections at the company's headquarters, where they identified seven employees, three of whom were undocumented, the three responsible individuals were arrested. They are charged with belonging to a criminal group, facilitating irregular immigration, and crimes against the rights of workers and foreign citizens.
The operation remains open, and further arrests are not ruled out.
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