Two beggars lead to the arrest of Bulgarian gangmasters

TWO Bulgarian beggars forced into servitude by a ruthless human trafficking gang shopped their captors to Palma police. The men arrived voluntarily at the station to make their horrifying claims. Their evidence led to the arrest of two gangmasters, also Bulgarian. 

The pair had allegedly been tricked into believing that they were leaving a small Bulgarian village to secure relatively lucrative jobs in Spain picking oranges. 

One arrived in Mallorca in October 2016, the other in December, and both were immediately forced onto the streets to beg around Santa Ponsa and Palma. Unless they returned with at least 100 they were savagely beaten with iron rods. In the evenings they were held overnight in squalid conditions alongside other hostages. 

Fortunately they were able to identify a vehicle driven by their captors to police. Officers stopped and searched the car finding dozens of plastic bags with €390 worth of coins stashed under the wheels. 

Raiding their homes, police found other victims of the scam, one of whom was forced into homosexual prostitution, anabolic steroids and weapons.