British builders 'used as slave labourers'

Young British men are being used as 'slave labourers' in Stockholm, police have said. The men are being used in building work, and according to reports they are paid only sporadically and live in squalor.

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Swedish television station TV4 has revealed that the men are forced to work fifteen hours a day, and live in derelict caravans without access to food or water. Around 100 British men are said to be working as pavers in the Stockholm area.

Swedish police say the incident is "pure slave trading". Jimmy Åberg of Swedish border police described some of the building workers as "street children".

Åberg said that many of the youngsters came from difficult backgrounds, had criminal records or had learning difficulties. Many of them don't even know which country they're in, he said. They are recruited with promises of good jobs; when they arrive in Sweden, their passports are confiscated.

Escape is near impossible for the workers:

"Those whom we have met say that they have been persecuted and subjected to threats and violence," Åberg told TV4.