Overview
- Investigators say two Pakistani men poured petrol into a seven-seat minivan at an IP petrol station in Amendolara and set it alight, killing four seasonal farmworkers and leaving one badly burned survivor.
- The survivor escaped by breaking a window and was treated for burns but later declined a CGIL placement and left protection, leaving investigators without a key witness.
- Police used petrol-station CCTV and the testimony of a forestale carabiniere who had stopped the van minutes earlier to identify and detain Safeer Ahmed and Ali Raza, who have invoked their right to silence.
- A gip in Castrovillari has ordered pre-trial detention for the two suspects and prosecutors describe the killings as brutal and planned while they probe whether the attack was linked to labour-intermediary networks.
- Reporting places the victims among low-paid strawberry pickers paid about €350 a month whose housing and pay were controlled by recruiters, a context that police are examining for wider exploitation and possible accomplices.