Five members of the Diadema Consortium, an Italy-based recruitment firm, have been arrested for exploiting and underpaying 20 Nigerian migrant women.

The Nigerian women, who were mostly made to work in the cleaning sector in the Italian region of Sicily, were never paid wages commensurate with their hours of work.

“The pay was €400 per month. The number of hours of work were never specified. We worked 10, 12 hours in a row,” said one of the migrants.

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“If we asked for our rights and guarantees, we were fired and kicked out of the WhatsApp chat used by the employers to inform us every morning where we needed to go to clean.”

It was reported that up to 40 businesses in the region relied on the cleaning services of the Nigerians.

“What makes the crime even more odious and serious is that laborers were specifically profiled for exploitation within the context of the city of Palermo,” said Annalisa Tesoriere, the judge hearing the case.

The judge believed the women had been specifically targeted because they had been in Italy without papers. The women, who lived in dilapidated shelters, eventually decided to bring an end to the exploitation by complaining to the relevant authorities, including the Italian police.

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An investigation by the police led to the arrest of three men and two women, who are all directors of the firm, on July 21.

They have all been accused of fraud, extortion and criminal conspiracy aimed at an illicit brokering and work exploitation.