Fields of Terror - the New Slave Trade in the Heart of Europe

While pricey restaurants in Berlin or Amsterdam serve fresh asparagus plucked from fields in the Czech Republic, none of the appreciative diners has the slightest idea that this much-loved item is only on their dinner plates thanks to the backbreaking work carried out by modern-day slaves - men and women lured from poor countries on false pretences and then held captive - beaten and threatened by armed guards if they ask for food, their wages or try to escape.

Our three month investigation in Romania, the Czech Republic, Moldova, Transnistria - a breakaway state from Moldova - Ukraine and The Netherlands, has uncovered the way in which a brutal criminal network of Ukrainian-run gangs recruited hundreds of victims to work effectively as slaves in Bohemia for years before the network was broken up this spring.

All the 40 victims of this from Romania whom we interviewed had been lured to an asparagus farm in Hostin u Vojkovic in 2007 and 2008, to toil for Bohaemer Spargel Kultur, BSK, a Czech firm owned by a Dutch company Procint B.V. None of them were neither paid nor decently fed and say they felt lucky to escape.

An ongoing investigation into forced labour into the BSK fields by Czech and Romanian police has revealed that at least 300 Romanians were trapped into forced labour there in 2007, 2008 and 2009. A more recent probe has revealed that Bulgarian Roma, Ukrainian and Moldovans also worked there for free.

It took Czech police two years to raid the premises of BSK in February after being first informed of what was going on in 2007. The raid led to the release of the remaining workers and the break-up of the organised crime network that had ensnared them.

The dupes were recruited by Ukrainian and Romanian agents of the gang leaders who promised them good salaries, accommodation and food. 

Most victims that we interviewed independently identified Vasyl Bentsa, the Ukrainian owner of a Czech recruiting company, Bear Loging, as ringleader of the gangs who trapped them. Czech police arrested Bentsa in February and his trial is ongoing. We approached legal office of his defence lawyer, Jiři Teryngel, but we were told he would decline to comment.
   
It was Bentsa's company, Bear Loging, which had a contract with BSK to supply them with workers. BSK's chief executive, Will Teeuwen, maintains he only found out about the conditions of the workers following Bentsa's arrest.

"There was no direct labour contract between BSK and the Romanian, Bulgarian and Moldavian workers," he said. "This was between the contractor, Bear Loging, and the workers".

Teeuwen's firms exports asparagus and other vegetables from Spain and Italy to Britain, Japan and elsewhere. BSK products are on sale in Germany and The Netherlands and to major supermarket chains, including Tesco outlets in the Czech Republic.

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