Czech gang sentenced for exploiting migrants for slave labor in UK

Three Czech nationals who exploited their fellow countrymen and forced them into slave labor in Britain will serve a total of 26 years in prison, as a British court sentenced the gang members to 13, nine, and four years behind bars on Friday, the British judiciary announced Tuesday.

British police have been investigating the case since 2019. The three men and one woman were convicted in May of exploiting 12 people from the Czech Republic and Slovakia. While the men received their sentences on Friday, the court will determine the woman’s sentence later, with her trial date yet to be set.

The victims came from vulnerable backgrounds; most were homeless or drug addicts and had limited English proficiency. They worked in either a fast-food restaurant or a factory supplying baked goods to supermarkets, and one woman was forced into prostitution.

Although they earned at least the legal minimum wage, the gang confiscated almost all of their earnings, leaving the victims with only a fraction of their wages. They lived on a few pounds daily in cramped conditions, in a shed and an unheated caravan. Police found that the victims’ labor funded the gang’s luxury cars, gold jewelry, and real estate in the Czech Republic.

Two other gang members were previously tried, with one man sentenced to 12 years in prison and his female partner to ten years, the Daily Mail reports.

Earlier this month, the BBC reported that victims worked in British McDonald’s branches and a bakery factory. The gang's activities were exposed in October 2019 when the victims contacted the police in the Czech Republic, who then informed their British counterparts.

The trio of men aged between 38 and 49 had been exploiting people since 2012, the Evening Standard wrote.