Gang used passports to control migrants

Five men who used migrants' passports as a form of "debt bondage" after smuggling them into the UK have been jailed.

The gang smuggled Vietnamese migrants into the country and laundered more than £1.6m, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.

The group took passports from migrants in France before they travelled to the UK by small boats and lorries, investigators said.

According to the NCA, the documents were then used as a form of control while payments for the crossings were collected and sent back to Vietnam.

Investigators found the men transferred more than £1.65m to accounts in Vietnam through 740 transactions between July 2024 and October 2025.

Vinh Van Nguyen and Quang Van Nguyen, both 31 and from Coventry, led the operation, the agency said.

Officers arrested Quang in Birmingham city centre on 11 September 2025 after spotting him acting suspiciously near a parked car.

A search of the vehicle uncovered more than £16,700 in cash and 220 Vietnamese passports bundled together in the boot alongside handwritten notes and receipts from previous money transfers.

The investigation had begun two months earlier when French customs officers at Charles de Gaulle Airport intercepted a package addressed to Quang.

The parcel, which was labelled as containing chocolates and clothes, was found to contain 22 Vietnamese passports.

Further inquiries linked money transfers made through Post Offices across the UK to members of the group.

Forensic examination of phones seized during the investigation uncovered discussions about people-smuggling routes, passports and migrant movements.

Officers also found messages referring to migrants as "chickens", which the NCA said was slang used by the gang.

NCA branch commander Sara-Jayne Moore said the group had shown "no qualms" about transporting migrants for profit.

She said the language used in messages recovered by investigators demonstrated the gang's attitude towards the people it smuggled.

Moore added that many migrants faced further hardship after arriving in the UK while working to repay debts linked to their journeys.

Following a two-week trial at Liverpool Crown Court, Vinh was convicted of conspiracy to assist illegal entry into the UK and transferring criminal property.

Quang and Lia-Chien Trong, 34, had previously admitted both offences, while Sy Trai Ho, 28, and Van Huy Nguyen, 23, from Rotherham, changed their pleas to guilty after the trial began.

Vinh was sentenced to 12 years and six months in prison, Quang to nine years and nine months, Huy to seven years and two months, Trong, of no fixed address, to six years and Ho, also of no fixed address, to four years and six months.

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