Indian restaurant workers have been lured to Europe in a visa scam and then forced to toil for long hours, seven days a week, with threats of violence, police have said.
Europol, the EU’s law enforcement agency, said victims were made to work 16 hours a day and the restaurants involved made €4 million (US 4.5 million) in profits from underpaying them.
At least 70 workers, mainly Indian nationals, came to Europe using migrant visas meant for chefs but instead worked as dishwashers, cleaners, waiting staff and managers, according to Europol.
Two owners of eight Indian restaurants in the Netherlands were arrested on Friday as part of a people trafficking investigation. The restaurants are part of three wider international chains.
Investigators suspect the same alleged criminal activities took place in other restaurants which are part of, or associated with, those chains in Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, France and Switzerland.
The restaurant workers were recruited and housed by the suspects. The employees were trapped with threats of violence and financial penalties if they wanted to return early, as well as pressure on the families at home for them to keep working for the restaurants.
They worked for up to 80 hours a week, performing “heavy physical labour under exploitative conditions”, Europol said.
“It is believed that the suspects have pressured the victims and their families in India, and used psychological coercion to force the victims to working harder and to prevent them from complaining to the authorities,” said the agency.
Europol said that as well as the eight restaurants in the Netherlands, seven were visited in Germany, two in both Luxembourg and Switzerland and one in Belgium.
The Netherlands Labour Authority, which arrested the two restaurant owners after carrying out inspections, said they were suspected of “human smuggling and employing illegal aliens”.
The authority said that by failing to comply with the terms of their chef visas, the restaurant workers were living and working illegally in the country.
The restaurants used a scheme brought in to allow Dutch entrepreneurs to recruit specialised chefs from outside the European Economic Area. The scheme was abolished in 2022 a transitional arrangement allowed visas to be issued until July 2024.
