The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) has confirmed that eight Macedonian nationals were arrested in Slovakia for having false employment contracts.
It was determined that 62 people, including eight Macedonian nationals, were arrested on October 17 after the embassy in Vienna, which also covers Slovakia, had contacted officials at the Slovak Foreign Ministry and the country's immigration services, said a spokeswoman of the Macedonian MoFA on Friday.
They were arrested while leaving the plant of Shin Heung Precision Slovakia in the vicinity of Trnava.
Of those apprehended, in addition to the Macedonian citizens, 23 people are from Serbia, 27 from Ukraine and four from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
After being arrested, they were taken to a center for foreign nationals in Dubrava, near the Slovakia-Hungary border.
They are banned from entering the EU, and have a 7-day deadline to return home.
Of the arrested Macedonians, no one contacted the embassy, spokeswoman Elena Presilska told MIA.
On Thursday, media in Serbia reported that 72 people were arrested. Marija Zdravkovic, who is a Serbian national, said the workers after being arrested had been held like criminals. She has been working in Slovakia since early September.
"They signed a bunch of papers, they had interpreters, who made no effort to help them. Police said that the contract is fake, so was the company for which they worked, and they are banned from entering the EU. They said also they must leave Slovakia in seven days' time," she told B92.
The managers of the company, embroiled in the scandal, says everything is fine and are advising workers to continue to work.
Police continue to carry our raids.
Slovakia's public broadcaster (RTVS) reported that the country's labor ministry has been fighting against intermediary agencies that by false pretenses bring foreign workers to Slovakia, who have no valid contracts, aren't paid social and health insurance and work in poor conditions.
