Monthly Archive: September 2011

Men ‘Kept As Slaves’ Found On Caravan Site

7:07pm UK, Sunday September 11, 2011
Darren Little, Midlands correspondent
Twenty-four people believed to have been held as slaves have been rescued following a dawn raid in Bedfordshire.

One hundred and fifty police officers were involved in the operation at a site close to Leighton Buzzard.
It is believed the people were recruited from soup kitchens, benefits offices and other locations, with the promise of accommodation and work.
When the people were brought to the site though, they had their heads shaved, mobile phones confiscated and made to work as labourers for no pay and live in squalid conditions.
Five people were arrested during the raid. Detectives are eager to talk to at least another three people in connection with holding people against their will, and slavery offences.

The Greenacre caravan site in Leighton Buzzard
Some of those found on the site are believed to have been held there for as long as 15 years. If they tried to leave they were threatened and beaten.
Detective Chief Inspector Sean O’Neil from the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Major Crimes Unit told Sky News: “Generally they were held in dirty, filthy conditions, hardly any food, not replacement clothing, as compared to their gangmasters who were living in almost palatial backgrounds.
“They were generally the most vulnerable people in society, who can disappear and be held here without anyone knowing they were missing.”
Detectives were alerted to what was going on by 28 people who had escaped from the site.

Five residents of the site have been arrested on suspicion of slavery offences
When they arrived the police expected to find around 15 people who were being held as slaves. After a search of the entire site, a total of 24 men were found, most of them British.
Detectives said they were found in an awful state. They had been living in small caravans or sheds spread throughout the travellers site.
They were made to work as labourers on projects across Britain and even in Scandinavia, detectives added.
In return the men were paid nothing and given little food.
On their one ‘day of rest’ on a Sunday, they were made to get up at 6am and clean the travellers site.
All 24 people are now being cared for at a reception centre, where they will get held from medical and other professionals – one of whom is a specialist in torture.
The four men and one woman arrested, all Irish are being questioned by the police.
:: Anyone with information should contact police on 01707 35598 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Attorney General Eric Holder seeks distance from gun sting | Reuters.
(Reuters) – Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday sought to distance himself and other senior Justice Department officials from a botched operation to track guns smuggled to Mexican drug cartels, saying they were not involved.

The Obama administration has been under scrutiny after revelations that as many as 2,000 guns were sold to suspected gun traffickers, not properly tracked and ended up at crime scenes in the United States and Mexico.

The operation, dubbed “Fast and Furious”, was run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the U.S. Attorney’s office in Arizona. Congressional Republicans have questioned who approved it and whether senior Justice Department officials were involved.

“The notion that somehow or other that this thing reaches into the upper levels of the Justice Department is something that, at this point, I don’t think is supported by the facts,” Holder told reporters.

The botched operation already has claimed the jobs of Ken Melson, acting director of the ATF, who was transferred to another Justice Department job, and the U.S. Attorney for Arizona, Dennis Burke, who resigned abruptly last week.

ATF officials and federal prosecutors had hoped the operation would help them follow the guns to cartel leaders. But ATF agents did not witness many of the purchases or track many of the guns after the initial purchaser resold them.

Holder questioned whether the congressional probe, led by Republicans in the House of Representatives and Senate, was politically motivated.

He admitted it was a “flawed enforcement effort,” but said, “my hope would be that Congress will conduct an investigation that is factually based and not marred with politics.”

Republican Senator Chuck Grassley denied any partisanship to the investigation. “We need to know exactly what happened and why. Then people need to be held accountable to make sure something so stupid never happens again,” he said.

Two guns from the operation were found at the scene where a U.S. Border Patrol agent was shot dead in a shootout with illegal immigrants last December.

(Editing by Christopher Wilson)