Five members of an organised Crime group have been jailed for a combined total of almost 40 years for their roles in a major people-smuggling operation which facilitated the illegal entry of Vietnamese migrants into the UK and laundered more than £1.6 million.
The National Crime Agency said the operation was run by twin brothers Vinh Van Nguyen and Quang Van Nguyen, who advertised services to people seeking to travel from Vietnam to Europe.
Vinh used Facebook to promote what investigators described as an “end-to-end service”, while the brothers worked alongside Van Huy Nguyen, Lia-Chien Trong and Sy Trai Hoboth to collect money from locations across the UK and transfer funds onwards to Vietnam.
Investigators said passports were taken from migrants and used as a form of debt bondage, while payments were collected and transferred to accounts in Vietnam controlled by the criminal network.
The scale of the operation became clearer following Quang’s arrest by West Midlands Police in September 2025.
Officers had spotted him acting suspiciously near a parked vehicle. When the car was searched, police discovered more than £16,700 in cash and 220 Vietnamese passports in the boot.
The passports were bundled together with handwritten notes and receipts relating to previous money transfers.
The five men have now received the following sentences: Vinh Van Nguyen, 12 years and six months; Quang Van Nguyen, nine years and nine months; Van Huy Nguyen, seven years and two months; Lia-Chien Trong, six years; and Sy Trai Hoboth, four years.
Their sentences amount to 39 years and five months in prison.
The NCA said the seizure of 220 passports demonstrated the scale of the criminal operation and said it would continue working with international partners to disrupt organised immigration crime and the networks profiting from it.
