MOSCOW, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- Police arrested workers at a clothing factory near Moscow, saying workers held 15 immigrant children and used them as slave laborers, authorities said.
Children between the ages of 11 and 17 were recruited from among poor families in Kyrgyzstan, an impoverished ex-Soviet Central Asian state, RIA Novosti reported Monday. Once in Russia, they had their documents taken away and were made to live under day-and-night guard in the factory in Noginsk, Russia, working at night without pay and with no free time, the report said.
"The children were given food twice a day, mainly bread and mayonnaise. They were not provided with medical care, and were punished for disobeying orders or refusing to work," a police statement said.
The children's parents had been told the children would be paid 5,000 rubles (about $170) a month, given three meals a day, and be provided with appropriate living conditions, police said.
The children were taken to a police station and given medical examinations, officials said.
Several illegal migrants from Kyrgyzstan, one of whom guarded the children, were arrested at the factory.
