The 25-year-old belongs to an international crime group working across Europe that arranges travel on small boats
Hoang Nguyen has been sentenced to more than 10 years behind bars(Image: CPS)
A Vietnamese national who helped smuggle hundreds of people into the UK from her Croydon home has been jailed. Hoang Nguyen, 25, and associate Hop Nguyen, 36, blatantly advertised their services on Facebook after arriving in the country illegally in 2023.
Working as part of wider crime group, the pair facilitated crossings from France for less then £3,000 per person. They also helped migrants disappear into local Vietnamese communities after claiming asylum.
It’s estimated they made around £750,000 from the plot between January 2023 and April 2024. Ledgers recovered from properties in Leicester and South Croydon showed payment amounts against 250 names.
One Facebook advert reads: “Brothers, sisters who have family members of friends, are currently in Europe, want to go to 44(UK) contact me please! Fast, Convenient – Prestigious. Price only >3xxx”. The post included a number on Zalo, a Vietnamese messaging app similar to WhatsApp, used to make arrangements and agree costs.
Even when intercepted by UK authorities, Hop and Hoang arranged for migrants to abscond from the temporary accommodation they were staying in. They were both detained in April 2024 and pleaded guilty to assisting unlawful immigration in August that year.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) recovered more than £8,000 from Hoang’s home upon her arrest. Her live-in partner Thuan Sy Tran, 26, is currently awaiting extradition to France.
Hoang, of Heathfield Road, has since been sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison at Croydon Crown Court. Hop, of Eastern Boulevard, Leicester, was handed 12 years. The court also made them subject to a deportation order.
NCA Branch Commander Saju Sasikumar said: “This group used social media to advertise small boats crossings for migrants, claiming cheap prices and urgency to entice people looking for a new life. These crossings are extremely dangerous and the defendants had no interest in the safety of those making the journey aside from ensuring they received their payment and made significant profits.
“Vietnamese nationals entering via a high risk and clandestine method like this automatically makes them vulnerable to be exploited or held under debt bondage. We will continue in our efforts to tackle organised immigration crime, from targeting people smugglers at every step of the route to removing social media pages attempting to advertise people smuggling.”
Last week, Ramal Briem was jailed for more than 10 years for being part of the same international crime group working across Europe to illegally bring migrants into the UK by offering to arrange spaces on small boats.
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