UK Jails Five in People-Smuggling Case Involving £1.65 Million in Laundered Cash
Five members of an organised crime group have been jailed for a combined term of almost 40 years after a UK National Crime Agency investigation found that the group facilitated the illegal entry of Vietnamese migrants and moved more than £1.65 million in cash generated from the operation.
The NCA said the investigation, conducted with French and Belgian law-enforcement partners, began after French Customs officers intercepted a package at Charles de Gaulle Airport in July 2025 containing 22 Vietnamese passports. Investigators subsequently identified twin brothers Vinh Van Nguyen and Quang Van Nguyen, both 31, as well as Van Huy Nguyen, 23, Lia-Chien Trong, 34, and Sy Trai Ho, 28.
According to the NCA, Vinh and Quang advertised people-smuggling services from Vietnam to Europe, including an “end-to-end service”. Members of the wider group collected cash at locations across the UK and sent funds onwards to Vietnam.
The agency said migrants’ passports were taken in France before they travelled to the UK by small boats and lorries. The documents were then sent to accomplices in the UK and used as part of debt-bondage arrangements. Payments for crossings were remitted to accounts controlled by the group in Vietnam through Post Offices and money-transfer businesses.
The investigation developed substantially after Quang was arrested in Birmingham on 11 September 2025. Police searching a vehicle found more than £16,700 in cash and 220 Vietnamese passports in the boot, together with handwritten notes and receipts from earlier money transfers. Those receipts led investigators to transactions conducted through Post Offices in several UK locations.
Further arrests in October 2025 resulted in additional cash and passports being recovered. Investigators also examined phones and communications that the NCA said contained discussions about migrant routes, payments and the movement of people into the UK. In one exchange recovered from Trong’s phone, he referred explicitly to sending money to Vietnam as money laundering.
More than £1.65 million transferred in 740 transactions
Following the arrests, production orders were served on Western Union, Ria Money Transfer and MoneyGram. The resulting records showed that the five men transferred more than £1.65 million to accounts in Vietnam through 740 transactions between July 2024 and October 2025, according to the NCA.
Vinh was convicted by a jury at Liverpool Crown Court on 25 August 2026 following a two-week trial. Quang and Trong had pleaded guilty at earlier hearings, while Ho and Huy changed their pleas to guilty shortly after the trial began.
At Liverpool Crown Court on 15 September, Vinh was sentenced to 12 years and six months in prison. Quang received nine years and nine months, Huy seven years and two months, Trong six years, and Ho four years.
The NCA said organised immigration crime remains a priority and that it currently has more than 100 investigations underway into individuals or networks involved in people smuggling.
