Trapped, abandoned: Filipino workers lured to Poland by shadowy agents

Filipinos pay thousands of dollars to unofficial recruitment companies, only to find themselves at the sharp end of Polish law.

Names marked with an asterisk* have been changed to protect identities.

On a bitterly cold night in February, Robby* was finishing up his shift on a production line at a chicken factory in Mlawa, Poland.

He was looking forward to going home to eat dinner and sleep.

But there was a knock at the door, and tensions rose as a group of policemen entered the factory. They had received a tip that the company was employing undocumented workers.

The foreign workers were marched into an office to have their identity papers checked.