Five people suspected of illegally exploiting a hundred undeclared workers, most of whom are undocumented and employed as drivers of transport cars with drivers (VTC) were charged and imprisoned on Friday, the Nanterre public prosecutor's office announced in a communicated. They have been charged with “ irregular residence assistance, money laundering, execution of concealed work, concealment, trafficking in human beings committed against several people, forgery in writing, forgery and use of false administrative documents and abuse of social goods ", all" in organized gangs, "said the prosecution.
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These five men are suspected of having set up two companies through which they employed a hundred drivers " working very long hours under pressure from their employers who argued their precarious situation " to force them to obey. The drivers perceived " only a tiny part of the services provided " and ordered through applications like Uber, Kapten, Bolt or Heetch.
The majority of the profits generated were collected by the five men detained. " The first investigations have shown the particularly lucrative nature of this traffic, generating financial movements up to hundreds of thousands of euros, " said the prosecution. Some 195,000 euros were seized in the form of cash and luxury cars. The two companies owned around fifty vehicles.
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According to the investigators of the sub-directorate for the fight against irregular immigration (SDLII) and the directorate for proximity security of the Paris agglomeration (DSPAP) in charge of the investigation, " this traffic was taking place for at least two years ".