Six people suspected of human trafficking were arrested after Gardai found 23 Romanian citizens living in cramped conditions in a house in Castletown, Kilpatrick, just outside Navan in Co. Meath.
The modern day slaves were found after one of them managed to escape the house and alert Gardai.
During the subsequent raid, Gardai arrested three men and three women. All of them are reportedly Romanians also.
The 23 people imprisoned at the house were all working at a local waste management firm, and their wages were paid into a bank account controlled by the gang. Gardai are satisfied that the employer had no knowledge of such arrangement, or their employees’ plight.
The gang have been detained and are being questioned at a Garda station in Meath.