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Bangladeshi hawkers found living in squalor in Italian town

Cosenza (Italy), Sep 6 (IANS/AKI) Police on Wednesday in Italy’s southern city of Cosenza found 15 Bangladeshi street-sellers who were paying 100 euros a month to sleep in a filthy, rubbish-strewn building with no bathrooms, beds or floors.

Police inspectors said the sprawling 700 square metre building was full of garbage and its rooms were filthy and had no furniture. The Bangladeshis had a just a camping stove and a few battered saucepans to cook food, police said.

The Bangladeshis, who included two minors, had to use squalid outside showers and toilets and inspectors described the accommodation as “unfit for human habitation”.

Police seized the building and reported the Bangladeshis’ two landlords to prosecutors for “abetting illegal immigration” after they found at least five of the hawkers were irregular migrants with no valid residency documents.

Two of the Bangladeshis fled from the building when police arrived.

Police said they also reported the Bangladeshis for selling counterfeit goods and impounded 409 items from them including shoes, bags and sunglasses.

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