27/07/2006 (Agence Europe) - One hundred and thirteen Polish workers have been released from a forced labour camp set up in the Puglia region, in southern Italy. According to Italian police authorities, the illegal labour camp organised by Italians and Polish nationals exploited over one thousand men for agricultural labour in conditions close to slavery. The “promised land” operation, on 18 July, allowed 25 persons involved in the organisation of the labour camp to be arrested through the cooperation of police and legal authorities in both countries, acting under a European arrest warrant launched by Europol and with the logistical support of Eurojust. This exploitation had been going on for two years by recruiting workers mainly from southern Poland and Ukraine, areas particularly affected by unemployment. Victims were forced to work over 15 hours a day for just a few euros.