The US Justice Department on Thursday indicted six people for luring 400 Thais to the United States and conspiring to force them into working as farm labourers, LA Times online reported.
Employees and the owner of a Los Angelesbased labourrecruiting company were indicted on Thursday by a federal grand jury in Honolulu for allegedly engaging in a humantrafficking conspiracy, the FBI said.
The indictment alleges that Global Horizons Manpower was involved in a scheme to coerce about 400 Thai nationals, brought to the US from May 2004 to September 2005, to work on farms across the country under a federal agricultural guestworker programme, the FBI said.
Named in the indictment are Mordechai Orian, Pranee Tubchumpol, Shane Germann and Sam Wongsesanit, all of Global Horizons Manpower.
Thai labour recruiters Ratawan Chunharutai and Podjanee Sinchai were also charged with engaging in the conspiracy to commit forced labour, the FBI said.
Representatives of the company could not be reached for comment on Thursday night.
The indictment alleges that the defendants enticed the immigrants to come to the US with false promises of lucrative jobs. The workers had their passports confiscated and were not paid the wages outlined in their contracts, the FBI said.