A people smuggler who trafficked Vietnamese migrants into the UK by hiding them in the backs of lorries has been locked up. Mai Van Nguyen was part of a 'network' of criminals who ran an international racket to sneak people into the country.
The 34-year-old plotted with others to move migrants in lorries from Vietnam to the West Midlands. He would then orchestrate plans for the migrants to be taken to safe houses and collect payment for the job.
Nguyen helped arrange at least six crossings in August and September 2020, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said. The convict - who is Vietnamese - is now the third member of the criminal network to be convicted of their crimes.
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NCA Branch Commander Mick Pope said: "Nguyen was part of a criminal network that treated people as nothing more than a commodity, happily risking their lives by putting them in the back of lorries for long journeys. His conviction is the culmination of a painstaking investigation by the NCA, focusing on a gang bringing people into the UK illegally and then arranging for them to move into the illicit economy where again they would be exploited.
"Stopping people smugglers is a priority for the NCA and we are determined to do all we can to disrupt and dismantle the criminal networks involved, wherever they operate." Nguyen was convicted of conspiring to facilitate illegal immigration following a three-week trial at Birmingham Crown Court.
The convict, of Jeremiah Road, Wolverhampton, was jailed for five-and-a-half years today (Friday, November 17). His role was to receive the migrants once they had arrived in the UK.
He would facilitate their movements to safe houses based in the West Midlands and collect payments. Some of the people smuggled into the country are believed to have ended up working in cannabis factories.
An investigation by the NCA indicated Nguyen was in 'regular communication' with other gang members when six smuggling attempts took place. Nguyen worked with Birmingham-based 'lynchpin' Hai Xuan Le, who plotted a series of crossings from his flat in Handsworth in August and September 2020.
Phone evidence showed Le was the UK 'lynchpin' of a wider global network of people smugglers. Members of the network referred to migrants as 'pork' and 'chickens' in messages recovered by the NCA.
A third man, taxi driver Habib Behsodi, worked with his accomplices to collect migrants from lorries in the south east of England before driving them to the West Midlands. Nguyen also met Behsodi a number of times to facilitate payments to those involved in transporting the Vietnamese nationals.
Le, 34, and Behsodi, 42, were both convicted of conspiring to facilitate illegal immigration following a six-week trial at Birmingham Crown Court last December. Le was jailed for seven-and-a-half years, while Behsodi - from Chatham, Kent -was handed a two-year sentence, suspended for two years, in February.
