A man arrested for housing 49 migrants in Eibar in unsanitary conditions and exploiting them at work

The National Police, in collaboration with the local Eibar Police (Gipuzkoa), arrested a man of Moroccan origin in San Sebastián on December 30, accused of housing 49 migrants in unsanitary conditions to exploit them doing construction work. The arrested person charged them rents that ranged between 250 and 450 euros per month for accommodation and a commercial premises that were in a poor state of repair. The detained man is free pending trial for crimes of human trafficking and workers' rights.

The Foreigners Operational Group of the National Police Corps had been following the man's trail after learning that he could be fraudulently registering migrants in an irregular situation, to whom he offered accommodation and exploited them for work, as reported this Tuesday by the Government Delegation in the Basque Country.

The agents discovered that the suspect housed the foreigners in rooms plagued by large damp stains in four homes that did not have heating, box springs on the beds or basic appliances. The tenants paid between 250 and 450 euros per month for living in overcrowded conditions. He housed others in a fish market without a habitation permit in exchange for 300 euros per month.

In approximately a year and a half it had housed 49 people, all of them in an irregular situation, with few economic resources and no command of the Spanish language, according to the Police. The detainee was able to receive up to 5,770 euros each month through these fraudulent rentals.

The agents discovered during the investigation that the suspect also profited by fraudulently registering these people in exchange for other financial compensation and that he gave them work in a company in the construction sector without an employment contract, with working hours that greatly exceeded the established hours. , without personal protective equipment and without paying them in many cases overtime or even monthly payments.

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