Two Vietnamese nationals who arrived in the UK illegally in 2023 have been jailed today for assisting unlawful immigration by advertising their services on Facebook which were used by at least 250 people to come into the country.

Hop Nguyen, 36, and Hoang Nguyen, 25, were prosecuted by the Crown Prosecution Service after working with others to facilitate crossings from France for less than £3,000 per person and enabling migrants to disappear into the Vietnamese community after claiming asylum. It is not clear how many people paid for the journey, but ledgers recovered from their homes in Leicester and South London showed payment amounts against 250 names meaning they stood to make around £750,000 for those crossings.

Hop Nguyen was sentenced to 12 years and Hoang Nguyen to 10 years and six months in prison at Croydon Crown Court. The court also made them subject to a deportation order. Their offending took place between January 2023 and April 2024. They were both arrested at separate properties in April 2024 and pleaded guilty in August that year. The two are not related.

One of the Facebook adverts from 8 June 2023. English translation: ‘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.

Their Facebook ads included a number to message on Zalo, a Vietnamese instant messaging app similar to WhatsApp. This was where potential illegal migrants would make arrangements and agree costs.

Hop and Hoang were also offering to arrange places on small boats coming from France.

Even when the migrants were intercepted by UK authorities Hop and Hoang would arrange for them to abscond from the temporary accommodation they were staying in and disappear into the community.

When Hoang Nguyen was arrested in April 2024, officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA) found £8,147 in cash at the Croydon home she shared with her partner, Thuan Sy Tran, 26. He is currently awaiting extradition to France.

Hilary Ryan, Specialist Prosecutor, from the Crown Prosecution Service said:

“The prison sentences handed down today are the latest in a series of prosecutions of criminals bringing Vietnamese migrants illegally into the UK.
“Hop Nguyen and Hoang Nguyen advertised on Facebook and then arranged illegal travel as part of an international organised crime network trying to undermine UK borders.
“Their operation was sophisticated and they stood to make hundreds of thousands of pounds and today’s sentence reflects that.
“Prosecutors in the CPS continue to work with the National Crime Agency and others to disrupt these gangs and put them out of business.”

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.” 

Hop Nguyen (left) and Hoang Nguygen

The two were involved with a larger international organised crime group that was bringing Vietnamese migrants into Europe.

On 26 March, 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.