Confiscation order against hotelier in trafficking case

Shamsul Arefin was jailed for three years in 2015

A former hotel owner has been ordered to had over nearly £100,000 which he made from trafficking workers from Bangladesh.

Shamsul Arefin, 50, was jailed for three years in 2015 after he was found guilty of human trafficking.

He has now been ordered to repay the money he made through his exploitation of four men while he owned Lochaber's Stewart Hotel, the Crown Office said.

Arefin told the men to pay him substantial sums in return for jobs.

When the men arrived in Scotland to work at the hotel, near Appin in Argyll, they found that their salaries were lower than they had been promised.

They also found themselves working excessively long hours, and their duties were far beyond what they expected.

'Vulnerable people'

Their salaries left the men unable to repay the debts they had accrued, and one was threatened that his kidney would be removed because he could not pay.

Arefin was found guilty of breaches of the Asylum and Immigration Act in July 2015 at Fort William Sheriff Court and was jailed for three years.

Prosecutors said that Arefin made substantial amounts of money through his exploitation of his victims.

A confiscation order for £93,443 was granted at Fort William Sheriff Court on Wednesday.

Liam Murphy, procurator fiscal for specialist casework, said: "Arefin took advantage of vulnerable people for his own financial gain, making significant amounts of money from the suffering of others.

"Our proceeds of crime team have been working to ensure Arefin will not be able to keep the money he made by trafficking people into labour."