Officers of the Department of Combating Organized Crime of Almaty and Shymkent freed more than 60 citizens of Uzbekistan, who remained in labor slavery among the local population, Polisia.kz reported.

The police received information about the enslaved foreigners from the sister of a 23-year-old Uzbek man living in Aktobe. On October 14, she contacted law enforcement officials and said that her brother had been kidnapped in Almaty.

Law enforcement officials found out that the abducted person worked at a brick factory in Shymkent. When he tried to quit his job, his employers refused to return his passport and pay his salary. The young man ran away and went to Almaty to ask for help at the Embassy of Uzbekistan.

“After receiving the message, the Almaty Department of Combating Organized Crime and the Auezov district DIA went to Shymkent, where three “employers” were arrested. Currently, involvement of the suspects in other possible crimes is being investigated,” the police report reads.

When the factory area was searched, operatives found more than 60 foreign workers, all of whom were citizens of Uzbekistan. It turned out that the owners of the factory invited foreigners to work and took away their documents upon arrival. They exploited them without pay, occasionally beat them and threatened them with death.

A criminal case has been opened against the owners of the brick factory. Investigations are underway.