Vietnam makes arrests as it cracks down on people smuggling after UK truck deaths
- Vietnam ordered an investigation into overseas trafficking after the bodies of 39 migrants were found in a truck in Britain on October 23
- Three were arrested after a man who paid them US$36,000 to send his son to the US complained when they refused to give him a refund
Police in the central Vietnamese city of Hue detained two men and one woman on suspicion of people smuggling.
Nguyen Khac Trong and Nguyen Van Chuong, 32, and Bui Thi Thu Hong, 34, will be investigated for “organising or coercing other persons to flee abroad or to stay abroad illegally”, and face a jail term of up to 20 years, according to the local newspaper VnExpress.
The alleged human smugglers were caught after one man paid them US$36,000 to send his son to America. Weeks passed without progress on the son's trip, and the father complained to authorities after the men refused to give him a refund.
In a separate case, a man in Ha Tinh province was jailed for five years for illegally smuggling nearly 50 people by boat to Taiwan via China, according to the news source.
