Finland jails businessman for trafficking Thai berry workers

A Finnish court on Monday handed a two-and-a-half-year jail term to a local businessman for human trafficking Thai workers to pick berries in the Nordic country.



Finnish authorities have cracked down in recent years after cases of exploitation of seasonal migrant workers in the nation's berry industry came to light, and have accused leading companies in the sector of having formed a cartel to depress wages.



The Lapland District Court convicted the former CEO of berry company Polarica, Jukka Kristo, on 78 counts of human trafficking.



His Thai business associate Kalyakorn Phongphit was also found guilty of the same offences, but she was only sentenced to nine months in prison as she had already been handed a three-year sentence last year in a case concerning another berry firm.