An evil slavery gang which forced workers to live in squalid conditions reportedly supplied the nation’s biggest supermarkets with freshly picked groceries.

Some of the biggest names in the industry - including Tesco, Asda, Waitrose, Sainsbury and M&S - all bought vegetables from firms that hired vulnerable men and women brought into the UK and controlled by the ruthless gang.

The huge gang collected around 400 drug addicts and alcoholics in Poland with the promise of good money when they got to England.

But they were paid just 50p a day as the majority of their earnings from hard manual labour on farms, in factories and recycling centres were siphoned off, an investigation by the Sunday Times reported. 

All the supermarket chains and other companies involved said they did not know the workers were being exploited. The Sunday Times said several became aware of the mistreatment only when it contacted them.

There is no suggestion the firms were actively complicit...