Three men, all non-EU citizens, were locked inside a warehouse in the Ottana countryside , forced to process marijuana in solitary confinement . The discovery was made during a State Police operation targeting drug production and gangmastering.
Five people have been charged.
A raid by officers from the Ottana Police Station, part of the operations organized by the Nuoro Police Chief to combat the production and trafficking of narcotics, resulted in a significant seizure of cannabis in two agricultural areas in the Nuoro province.
Overall, approximately three tons of marijuana and 10,000 plants, placed for drying, were seized . During the operation, officers searched an apparently abandoned farmhouse, with its windows barred and the entrance secured from the outside with chains and padlocks. Inside, they found the three non-EU citizens, one of whom had become an Italian citizen, busy processing cannabis products.
The workers would have been forced to operate in conditions of total isolation, with no escape routes and no toilets , with the sole task of processing marijuana.
Subsequent investigations revealed that one of the suspects was managing the segregated workers . He was subsequently charged with gangmastering and labor exploitation .
The drugs were seized, validated by Nuoro Deputy Prosecutor Gabriele Carta, who is coordinating the investigation. The five men have been charged.
