A man who helped smuggle Vietnamese nationals into the UK over 18 days in 2020 has been jailed.

Duc Quang Ta, 36, was convicted following a 16-day trial in February and was handed an eight year prison sentence on Friday 10 July at Birmingham Crown Court.

His co-defendant Sarfaraz Sardarzehi, 58, received a two-year prison sentence suspended for 21 months. Ta had helped 22 Vietnamese nationals reach the UK illegally, while Sardarzehi was involved in helping three of the migrants.

(Footage of arrests in September 2020 - https://youtu.be/Ll4A03KMaNc)
 

Duc Quang Ta (left), wrapped cash found during Ta’s arrest, Sarfaraz Sardarzehi, and Sardarzehi in a car with illegal migrants during his arrest.

Ta had contacts in several countries and was involved in all aspects of the people smuggling operation including planning stays for illegal immigrants in European safehouses to their onward travel inside the UK.  The prosecution was able to show that although he was unemployed, Ta enjoyed trips to restaurants in London and a shopping trip to Harrods thanks to money he made from this crime. 

Following an investigation by the National Crime Agency, the men were prosecuted by the Crown Prosecution Service.

The jury at Birmingham Crown Court took just one hour to find both men guilty of facilitating unlawful immigration between 18 August and 6 September 2020. Three other members of the gang were convicted for the same offence in 2022 and 2023.

Ta was additionally convicted of having £56,020 in cash which he was going to use to pay off lorry drivers who transported the Vietnamese migrants from France to the UK.

Most of the cash was stashed in a carrier bag found with Ta when the BMW he was a passenger in was stopped by police near Leatherhead in Surrey on 3 September 2020. Along with the cash, police recovered a mobile phone which contained incriminating images and chats about the people smuggling plot.

The next day Sardarzehi was stopped while driving near Birmingham with three Vietnamese males in his car. He told police that he had picked them up off the street but Sardarzehi knew they had just arrived illegally in the UK.

Ta and Sardarzehi are the latest members of the gang to be sentenced. In December 2022 and November 2023, Mai Van Nguyen, 36, Hai Xuan Le (aka Ho Sy Quoc), 28, and Habib Behsodi, 45, were convicted at trial of conspiring with Duc Quang Ta and unknown others to assist unlawful immigration between 19 August 2020 and 6 September 2020.

Thomas Short from the Crown Prosecution Service said:

“Duc Quang Ta and Sarfaraz Sardarzehi were part of an international people smuggling gang and their only goal was to make money without a care for the safety of others.  

“The Vietnamese migrants they smuggled into the UK endured long journeys, some of them in the back of refrigerated lorries, which could have had dangerous consequences.

“UK law enforcement continues to work internationally to investigate and prosecute gangs who undermine our border security and will always seek to bring those who break the law to justice.”