October 11, 2023.- The Civil Guard of Soria ended on September 27 with the exploitation of the so-called Operation Machatasha that resulted in the arrest of six people and the judicial investigation of four others to the activity of a criminal organization focused on the labor exploitation of foreign citizens, both EU citizens in a situation of vulnerability and non-EU citizens from North Africa and who lacked any type of authorization to work in Spain, achieving the identification of a total of 45 victims.
The Soria Civil Guard Command learned at the beginning of last July that in the towns of the Ribera del Duero Soriana foreign people would be doing agricultural work without the necessary legal formalities. At the beginning of the investigations, the workers were contacted verifying that the information received was true and finding indications of the existence of a network of people who hired them, allowing the subsequent investigation to prove the existence of a criminal organization now dismantled.
As for the typology of the victims, the existence of two different groups was detected, on the one hand there would be those from countries of the Maghreb which due to their irregular situation in Spain lacked any authorization to work and a second group of people who came from countries of the European Union, which enables them to work under the same conditions as nationals, but who were in a situation of vulnerability, either due to lack of roots, lack of economic resources, lack of knowledge of the language, etc. This led to the fact that, although they could be discharged by the entrepreneur, they were not and were obliged to accept the conditions dictated by the organization.
It should be noted that the investigation has allowed to demonstrate that the conditions of exploitation by the organization to the victims were prolonged even when they ended the employment relationship, forcing them to take on a debt that according to the organization was caused by their accommodation, maintenance, alleged bureaucratic procedures, transfers from their countries of origin and in general any excuse. The coercion was maintained over time, generating fear in the victims.
In none of the cases that have been investigated did the wages reach the legal minimum wage, and generally the expenses allegedly generated exceeded the amount to be received.
The operation was known and coordinated by the Court of First Instance and Investigation of El Burgo de Osma (Soria) and the Public Prosecutor ' s Office of the Provincial High Court.
Likewise, during the exploitation phase, the Labour and Social Security Inspectorate of Soria participated.