Four migrant workers are burned alive in their car in Italy

The exploitation of farm workers in Italy has come under the spotlight again after four men – three Afghans and one from Pakistan – were allegedly burned alive in a car at a petrol station in Calabria. The attack was captured by a surveillance camera at the garage in Amendolara, close to Cosenza. Two Pakistani nationals have been arrested on charges of aggravated murder, according to public prosecutor Alessandro D’Alessio. The video footage, which was broadcast by the state TV network, Rai, and other Italian media, appears to show the suspects pouring liquid into the back of the vehicle while it is parked next to a petrol pump. They set it ablaze and block its doors to try to ensure the victims cannot get out. A fourth Afghan man, who suffered burns to his arms, managed to escape through the boot. In an interview with the regional news service TGR Calabria, the survivor, a strawberry picker who shared a flat with the four victims, said the killers were part of a “huge Pakistani mafia”, adding: “It’s a miracle that I’m alive.” He said the victims were threatened with guns and knives and had been forced to work without pay and received only food and board. Facilitated by flaws in immigration and labour law, the exploitation of farm workers has become rampant under a criminal system known as caporalato – a lucrative, tightly run network of gangmasters who illegally recruit poorly paid labourers. …