A Case of Robberies Against Lithuanian Farm Workers

Lithuanian workers on Danish farms receive blackmail threats from mafia organizations at home. ‘Pay up, or your family suffers. We know where they live.’ Lithuanian mafia organizations do not seem to have many scruples about pressing money from their compatriots working in Denmark. The Skjern City Court opened a case of robberies against Lithuanian farm workers on Monday. The four suspects are Lithuanian as well, and Public Prosecutor Jens Dissing said the criminals were obviously organized. ‘The story is that farm workers have to pay USD 100 a month to ‘be allowed’ to work in Denmark,’ he said. The robbers used knives and pistols to threaten the workers to hand over their passports, money, and cars, and told them things would happen to their families at home if they told the police. In many cases the workers have declined to report the incidents to the police, and many witnesses have either disappeared or refuse to say a word to the police, Dissing said.