Rotherham man jailed over Vietnamese migrant smuggling and £1.6 million money laundering gang
Five members of an organised crime group have been sentenced to almost 40 years between them
A Rotherham man has been jailed alongside four other people for helping to run an organised crime group that smuggled Vietnamese migrants into the UK and laundered more than £1.6 million in criminal cash.
Vinh Van Nguyen and Quang Van Nguyen, both 31-year-olds from Coventry, led the operation, according to the National Crime Agency (NCA).
They were sentenced alongside Van Huy Nguyen, a 23-year-old from Rotherham, and Lia-Chien Trong, 34, and Sy Trai Ho, 28, who are both of no fixed UK abode.
Investigation began with airport seizure
The NCA investigation, carried out jointly with French and Belgian police, began after French Customs officers seized a package at Charles de Gaulle Airport in July last year.
The package, addressed to Quang Nguyen and supposedly containing chocolates and clothes, was found to actually contain 22 Vietnamese passports, the NCA said.
Investigators established that passports were taken from migrants by members of the crime group in France, before the migrants travelled to the UK by small boat or lorry.
The documents were then sent on to accomplices in the UK, where the gang used them as a form of debt bondage to collect money from the migrants, according to the NCA.
Twins advertised 'end-to-end service'
Vinh and Quang Van Nguyen advertised people smuggling services from Vietnam to Europe, with Vinh messaging contacts on Facebook offering an "end-to-end service", the NCA said.
Quang was arrested by West Midlands Police in Birmingham city centre on 11th September 2025 after officers saw him acting suspiciously and discarding car keys under a parked taxi.
A search of the car uncovered more than £16,700 in cash and 220 Vietnamese passports in the boot, bundled with handwritten notes and receipts from previous money transfers, the NCA said.
Examination of Quang's phone found messages discussing people smuggling, including exchanges about lorries entering the UK and the movement of migrants, referred to in messages as "chickens", the agency said.
Money sent through post offices including in Warwickshire
Receipts recovered from the car led investigators to transfers made at Post Offices in locations including Coventry, Leamington Spa, Rugby, Luton, Wigan, Liverpool and Leeds.
Further investigation linked the majority of these transactions to members of the crime group, who transferred money over a fifteen-month period between July 2024 and October 2025, the NCA said.
Production orders served on Western Union, Ria Money Transfer and MoneyGram showed the group transferred more than £1.65 million across 740 transactions to accounts in Vietnam during that period.
Trong was further linked to the conspiracy after forensic analysis of a bag found in the car, which contained passports wrapped in a bloodstained football shirt bearing his DNA, according to the NCA.
NCA officers arrested Vinh, Ho and Trong in Coventry on 1st October last year, and rearrested them in February this year along with Huy for the first time.
Sentencing
Vinh was convicted by a jury at Liverpool Crown Court on 25th August following a two-week trial.
Quang and Trong pleaded guilty at earlier hearings, while Ho and Huy changed their pleas to guilty after the trial had started, the NCA said.
At the same court on 15th September, 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 to six years and Ho 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 numbers of passports seized by the NCA and our policing partners demonstrates the scale of the operation overseen by Quang and Vinh," she said.
"Migrants faced further misery on their arrival to the UK, with many working in the grey economy under 'debt bondage' arrangements," she said.
"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," she said.
The NCA said tackling organised immigration crime remains a top priority, with more than 100 investigations currently ongoing into individuals or networks involved in people smuggling.