Badr Tadlaoui
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22:05 – December 13, 2024
Gendarmes from the Bouliac research brigade, located in the commune of Bouliac, south of Bordeaux, dismantled a Moroccan family criminal organization exploiting agricultural workers in Cambes, a village in the Lot-et-Garonne department, in the New Aquitaine, southeast of Bordeaux. A couple was indicted on Thursday, December 12 after a year-long investigation, during which several victims denounced practices of forced labor and mistreatment.
The case began at the end of 2023 with the filing of twenty-two complaints from Moroccan workers recruited under false promises of decently paid jobs in France. After paying up to 12,000 euros to obtain a job, these workers were forced to work in precarious conditions, in unsanitary housing, located in the Lot-et-Garonne department. The couple, at the head of the network, also forced them to pay additional costs, notably for fuel and the highway and rent not stipulated in their contracts.
Investigators discovered that in the event of refusal of payment or complaint, relatives of the couple threatened the victims by attacking their families remaining in Morocco. Testimonies collected reported threats, mistreatment, and degrading working conditions, deeply affecting the victims, both physically and psychologically.
On February 10, 2025, the couple will be tried before the Bordeaux criminal court, located in Gironde, for human trafficking, hidden work and employment of foreigners without a work permit. While awaiting their trial, the couple was placed in pre-trial detention, while three accomplices were placed under judicial supervision.
Morocco
