The Police in Kano have rescued over 300 labourers who were forced to spend three months working in a rice-processing factory called ‘popular farm rice’, in Challawa industrial area.
The workers were rescued on Monday, June 22, when Policemen stormed the Indian-owned factory with a court injunction. Four managers were arrested. .
According to BBC, the workers were promised an additional N5,000 a month on top of their N25,000 monthly salary – those who did not accept were threatened with the sack.
Speaking with Journalists, the workers said they were denied access outside the premises of the factory due to the fear of bringing COVID-19 into the factory.
Police spokesman Abdullahi Haruna said that the plant had now been shut down and the owners were being investigated for “holding the men against their will”.
Some of the men said they were forced to work most of the time during their incarceration, with little food.
“We were allowed to rest for only a short time, no prayers were allowed, no family visits,” 28-year-old Hamza Ibrahim, one of those rescued, told the BBC.
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