(From top left clockwise) Vinh Văn Nguyễn, Van Huy Nguyễn, Lia Chien Trọng, Quang Văn Nguyễn and Sy Trai Hồ. Photos courtesy of the National Crime Agency

LIVERPOOL — Five members of a people smuggling gang facilitating illegal entry to the UK for Vietnamese migrants have been jailed for a total of almost 40 years.

Twin brothers, Vinh Văn Nguyễn and Quang Văn Nguyễn, 31, along with Van Huy Nguyễn, 23, Lia-Chien Trọng, 34, and Sy Trai Hồ, 28, were also convicted of laundering more than US$2 million.

The gang were brought to justice following a Europe-wide investigation involving authorities from France, Belgium and the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA).

The people smuggling operation was run by Vinh and Quang, who advertised transport from Việt Nam to Europe with Vinh messaging contacts on Facebook offering an ‘end-to-end service’.

Messages on phones seized by police showed members of the gang referring to the people being smuggled as ‘chickens’.

The wider group worked together collecting cash from various locations across the UK and sending it onwards to Việt Nam.

Passports were taken from migrants by members of the crime group in France, before they travelled to the UK via small boats and lorries, with the documents then sent to accomplices in the UK.

Using the passports as a form of debt bondage, the gang collected money from the migrants and then sent payments for crossings back to Việt Nam via Post Offices and money transfers bureaux such as Western Union, MoneyGram or Ria. The money was transferred to accounts under their control in Việt Nam.

Quang was arrested by West Midlands Police in Birmingham city centre on 11 September 2025.

The officers, part of the Operation Fearless team targeting organised crime in the Southside area of the city, saw Quang acting suspiciously after emerging from the driver's seat of a parked car and discarding the keys under a parked taxi.

Vietnamese passports and more than $22,000 was found in a car driven by a member of the gang.

The car was searched and found to contain more than $22,000 in cash and 220 Vietnamese passports in the boot bundled together with handwritten notes and receipts from previous money transfers.

The receipts recovered from the car led investigators to numerous transfers made at Post Offices in locations across the UK. Further investigation linked the majority of these transactions to members of the crime group, including Vinh, Hồ, Huy, Trọng and Quang, who transferred money over a 15-month period between July 2024 and October 2025.

Trọng was further linked to the conspiracy following forensic analysis of a bag located within the car. The bag contained a number of passports wrapped in a bloodstained Argentina football shirt which contained Trọng's DNA.

Quang's phone was forensically examined and found to contain messages about people-smuggling offences. In one exchange with an individual called 'Bao', he was sent an image of a Romanian-registered lorry and a ferry booking for a further vehicle. Both vehicles had entered the UK on 18 July 2025, travelling in convoy to the M25 Thurrock Services. The pair discussed being underpaid for their involvement.

Facebook messages between Quang and Trọng detailed screenshots of addresses for nail salons in the UK, along with names and dates of birth of Vietnamese nationals, some of which related to the passports seized on 11 September.

This showed that migrants were placed in workplaces under 'debt bondage' to pay for illegal entry to the UK.

NCA officers arrested Vinh, Hồ and Trọng in Coventry on 1 October last year and rearrested them in February this year, when they also arrested Huy for the first time.

Before the October arrest, Vinh, Hồ and Trọng were observed in a white Vauxhall Astra which travelled from Coventry to a nail bar in the Wrexham area, where cash was collected.

The vehicle stopped at an Asda store in Wigan, where Trọng and Hồ attempted to transfer cash via Western Union. They were found to be in possession of approximately $5,300 in cash when arrested. Vinh was found with more than $19,000 in cash and eight Vietnamese passports in the vehicle, some of which contained Post Office cash deposit receipts.

Examination of Vinh's phone showed conversations believed to relate to the movement of migrants through Hungary, including routes, flights, passports, addresses near migrant safehouses in France and references to lifejackets.

Communication using the ‘Zalo’ app between Vinh and Huy, who used the handle 'Gucci', shows Vinh discussing the movement of people and travel routes. The same chat also contained messages advertising routes from Việt Nam to the UK costing $20,000 per person.

A Facebook Messenger chat between Vinh and another individual between October 2024 and July 2025 discussed bringing "chickens" to the UK. Vinh said: "I DON'T HAVE A JOB YET BUT SOON I HAVE CHICKENS THAT I WANT TO BRING TO THE UK BY TRUCK [...] IT'S WINTER NOW AND IT'S DANGEROUS TO GO BOATING SO I DON'T ACCEPT CHICKENS ANYMORE..."

Vinh's phone was also found to contain multiple searches on windy.com, which provides detailed visualised mapping data for weather forecasts, including wind and wave data for the English Channel. The website was accessed 99 times over a 61-day period.

Examination of Trọng's phone showed notes detailing monetary amounts, Post Office locations and banking details. Within one chat, Trọng said to an unknown individual: "OVER HERE WE SEND PAPERS TO VIETNAM, CALLED MONEY LAUNDERING."

Production Orders were served on Western Union, Ria Money Transfer and MoneyGram following the suspects’ arrests. These showed that between them they transferred more than £1.65 million across 740 transactions to accounts in Việt Nam between July 2024 and October 2025.

Vinh was convicted by a jury at Liverpool Crown Court on 25 August following a two-week trial.

Quang and Trọng pleaded guilty at previous hearings, while Hồ and Huy changed their pleas to guilty just after the trial started.

At the same court on September 15, 2026, Vinh was sentenced to 12 years and six months’ imprisonment, Quang to nine years and nine months, Huy to seven years and two months, Trọng to six years and Hồ to four years.

NCA branch commander Sara-Jayne Moore said: "This group had no qualms about transporting migrants for profit, as shown by the heartless language used to describe their human cargo.

"The huge number of passports seized by the NCA and our policing partners demonstrates the scale of the operation overseen by Quang and Vinh.

"Migrants faced further misery on their arrival in the UK, with many working in the grey economy under 'debt bondage' arrangements.

"We will continue to work with partners abroad, including those in France and Belgium, to pursue the crime groups responsible for organised immigration crime, and bring individuals to justice." VNS