Officers of the Department of Combating Organized Crime of Almaty and Shymkent freed more than 60 citizens of Uzbekistan, who remained in labor slavery among the local population, Polisia.kz reported.
The police learned about the enslaved foreign nationals from the sister of a 23-year-old Uzbek man living in Aktobe. On October 14, he contacted law enforcement officials and said that his brother had been kidnapped in Almaty.
Law enforcement officials found out that the abducted person worked at a brick factory in Shymkent. When he tried to quit his job, his employers refused to return his passport and pay his salary. The young man ran away and went to Almaty to ask for help at the Embassy of Uzbekistan.
"After receiving the message, the Almaty Department of Combating Organized Crime and the Auezov district police department went to Shymkent, where three "employers" were arrested. They were charged. The involvement of the suspects in other possible crimes is being investigated," the police report said.
When the factory area was searched, officers found more than 60 foreign workers, all of whom turned out to be citizens of Uzbekistan. It turned out that the owners of the factory invited foreigners to work and seized their IDs upon arrival. They used them without pay, occasionally beat them and threatened them with death.
A criminal case has been opened against the owners of the brick factory and investigations are underway.
