UK Jails People Smugglers Over Vietnamese Migrant Deaths
01/22/21 AT 11:12 AM
A British judge on Friday handed down sentences of 27 and 20 years to the ringleaders of a people smuggling plot that led to the death of 39 Vietnamese migrants in horrific conditions in the back of a lorry.
The 39 the youngest of whom were two 15-year-old boys suffocated in the container as they were being transported to what they had hoped would be new lives in Britain.
The lifeless bodies of the migrants were discovered inside the sealed unit at a port near London in October, 2019.
The case cast a shocking new light on the lengths migrants will go to to reach Britain and the gangs exploiting their desperation.
Four people-smugglers convicted of killing 39 people from Vietnam – who died in the back of a container truck as it was shipped to England – have been sentenced to between 13 and 27 years in prison.
The victims, between the ages of 15 and 44, were found in October 2019 inside a refrigerated container that had travelled by ferry from Belgium to the eastern England port of Purfleet. The migrants had paid people-smugglers thousands of dollars to take them on risky journeys to what they hoped would be better lives abroad.
Judge Nigel Sweeney told the court on Friday the gang’s operation was a “sophisticated, long-running and profitable one to smuggle mainly Vietnamese migrants across the channel”.
By Press Association 2021
Bodies found in lorry container
The families of the 39 men, woman and children who suffocated en route to Britain have spoken of their grief, loss and hardship.
Prosecutor Jonathan Polnay read out statements from the parents, wives, husbands and children of the victims as those responsible for the tragedy prepared to be sentenced at the Old Bailey
The mother of one of the youngest victims, Dinh Dinh Binh, 15, spoke of the emotional and financial toll.
Bui Thi Nguyet said: “Although we have received his cremated ashes and organised his funeral, we have not been able to get back to our normal life yet.
By Press Association 2021
Bodies found in lorry container
The families of the 39 men, woman and children who suffocated en route to Britain have spoken of their grief, loss and hardship.
Prosecutor Jonathan Polnay read out statements from the parents, wives, husbands and children of the victims as those responsible for the tragedy prepared to be sentenced at the Old Bailey
The mother of one of the youngest victims, Dinh Dinh Binh, 15, spoke of the emotional and financial toll.
Bui Thi Nguyet said: “Although we have received his cremated ashes and organised his funeral, we have not been able to get back to our normal life yet.
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