Four remanded in custody after human trafficking and gangmaster charges

Four Romanian nationals charged with human trafficking and gangmaster offences in Scotland have been remanded in custody.

Three men and a woman were arrested after two search warrants were executed in the Blairgowrie area of Perthshire last week as part of investigations by Police Scotland and the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA).

The operation consisted of officers from Tayside and Police Scotland’s Specialist Crime Division, the GLAA, Perth and Kinross Council and Migrant Help.

Information received from the UK government’s National Referral Mechanism (NRM) indicated that a number of workers had been trafficked from Romania and exploited.

Carmen and Stelian Neacsu, both 53, Gabriel Dogeanu, 39, and Petrica Obreja, 37, appeared before Dundee Sheriff Court on Monday May 3.

All four were charged with offences under the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act 2015.

Stelian Neacsu and Dogeanu, both of Coralbank Crescent, and Obreja, of Altamount Chalets, Coupar Angus Road, Blairgowrie, were also charged with operating without a GLAA licence.