Three members of a Sydney family have faced court accused of forcing a woman from Afghanistan into "domestic servitude".
Federal police on Wednesday arrested the woman's 39-year-old Australian husband, his 28-year-old brother and 58-year-old mother in Merrylands following a lengthy investigation.
It's alleged the trio forced the woman into domestic servitude before they deceived her into travelling to Afghanistan on a one-way ticket.
"Her husband, who travelled to Afghanistan with her in January 2018, then allegedly returned to Australia a few days later without her," Australian Federal Police said in a statement.
The woman returned to Australia in February 2018 and alerted authorities.
The following month, AFP and Border Force officers raided a property in Merrylands, seizing personal items belonging to the woman and almost $89,000 in cash.
The 39-year-old man and 58-year-old woman have both been charged with two counts of possessing a slave and two counts of excessive powers of ownership over a slave.
The 28-year-old man was charged with two counts of excessive powers of ownership over a slave.
The maximum penalty for the offences is 25 years in jail.
None of the three applied for bail and it was formally refused when their matters were briefly mentioned at Central Local Court on Wednesday.
The trio is due back at the same court on Thursday.
The AFP has now re-opened a 2013 investigation into allegations of domestic servitude involving the 39-year-old man's first wife.
AFP Acting Commander Chris Goldsmid said the two alleged victims were being supported under the federal government's trafficked people program.
"This investigation is a reminder that modern slavery exists in Australia," he said in a statement.
"The exercise of ownership rights over another person is an offence under our laws, with strict Commonwealth slavery and slavery-like offences in place."
