Five men who used migrants' passports as 'debt bondage' after smuggling them into UK in £1.6m money laundering scheme are jailed

Five members of an organised crime group who confiscated migrants' passports as part of a 'debt bondage' scheme have been jailed.The migrants were smuggled into the UK via France as part of a huge £1.6million money laundering scheme which was run by 31-year-old twin brothers Vinh Van Nguyen and Quang Van Nguyen.Vinh and Quang lured Vietnamese asylum seekers to Britain with Facebook adverts for people smuggling into Europe which promised an 'end-to-end service'.Once they reached France, the migrants had their passports taken away from them before they travelled into the UK on small boats or lorries. The stolen passports were then used as a form of debt bondage where money was collected from the migrants before it was sent back to Vietnam.Police uncovered that the elaborate scheme saw more than £1million transferred to the south-east Asian country through 740 transactions between July 2024 and October 2025. Quang was arrested by West Midlands Police in Birmingham city centre on September 11 last year. Following a search of his car, officers found more than £16,700 in cash and 220 Vietnamese passports in the boot bundled together with handwritten notes and receipts from previous money transfers.Pictured: Twins Quang Van Nguyen (left) and Vinh Van Nguyen (right) who were the leaders of the smuggling gang More than 220 Vietnamese passports were found in a car linked to the investigation into the people smuggling gangAfter studying the receipts, police uncovered the true scale of the money laundering scheme with cash transactions taking place across the country including Coventry, Luton, Wigan, Liverpool, Leeds, Leamington Spa and Rugby.While Quang's phone contained numerous messages about people smuggling where migrants were referred to as 'chickens', which the National Crime Agency (NCA) said was slang used by the gang.The international investigation into the gang began in July 2025 when French customs officers at Paris' 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.The investigation into the criminal activities of the group led to the arrest of Vinh as well as Lia-Chien Trong, 34, and Sy Trai Ho, 28, in October last year and Van Huy Nguyen, 23, in February. Now, following a two-week trial at Liverpool Crown Court, the men have been jailed for a total of almost 40 years.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.Pictured: Van Huy Nguyen (left) who was jailed for seven years and two months and Lia-Chien Trong (right) who was jailed for six years Pictured: Sy Trai Ho who was jailed for four years and six months Receipts seized during the police's investigation into the gang where it was uncovered £1.6million had been laundered through the scheme 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.'Migrants faced further misery on their arrival to 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.'