British supply chain Tesco suspended a Chinese Christmas cards supplier on Sunday after a customer found a secret message written inside one of the cards by foreign forced labor prisoners.
“We are foreign prisoners in Shanghai Qingpu Prison China. Forced to work against our will. Please help us and notify human rights organization," the message inside the card read.
It was found by a 6 years old girl in London. Her father said that he thought that it was a gag but, soon realized it was a serious case and he felt a responsibility to pass it on to investigator and former labor prisoner Peter Humphrey as requested.
“We opened them about a week ago and we were writing in them, and on about my sixth or eighth card, somebody had already written in it,” she said.
The cards were produced at the Zheijiang Yunguang factory, which is about 100 km from Shanghai Qingpu prison.
“We abhor the use of prison labor and would never allow it in our supply chain,” a Tesco spokesman said.
“We were shocked by these allegations and immediately suspended the factory and launched an investigation. We have also withdrawn these cards from sale whilst we investigate,” the spokesman added.
Two phone calls and one emailed request for comment to the company went unanswered after usual business hours on Sunday.
Tesco, which is UK's biggest retailer, donates 300,000 pounds a year from the sale of the cards to the charities British Heart Foundation, Cancer & Diabetes research UK.
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