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A Vietnamese teenager accused of being a key “organiser” in the fatal people-smuggling operation which saw 39 migrants suffocate in the back of a container on its way to Essex has lost his appeal against extradition.
Ngo Sy Tai, also known as Hung Sy Truong, is wanted in Belgium over allegations he ran a so-called “safe house” for his fellow Vietnamese nationals in Anderlecht, Brussels.
Joel Smith, representing Ngo, appealed against extradition and cited a lack of detail in the charges against his client, meaning he was unable to sufficiently advise him.
But District Judge Mark Jabbitt, in his written ruling handed down at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London on Thursday, said Ngo should be extradited.
Mixed feelings in Vietnam after two convicted in UK over truck deaths
He faces up to 20 years in prison if he is convicted over the operation, an extradition hearing at the same court heard last month.
Ngo, who is said to be 18, fled to Berlin and then to Birmingham following the grim discovery of the 39 dead men, women and children in an airtight trailer the morning after it left the Belgian port of Zeebrugge, bound for Britain, on October 22, 2019.
The victims, 10 of whom are said to have passed through Ngo’s four-storey terraced safe house on a quiet backstreet, had hoped for a better life in the UK when they agreed to pay up to 13,000 pounds (US$17,860) a head for a “VIP” smuggling service.
The court heard Ngo, who would therefore have been just 16 at the time of the deaths, is accused by Belgian authorities of being a member of a criminal organisation, being involved in human trafficking and using forged documents.
Outlining the case for the Belgian authorities, lawyer Daniel Sternberg said: “He (Ngo) is described as an organiser for the people-trafficking organisation, arranging accommodation and transit for money.



“The vulnerable position of the people who paid money to be smuggled was abused and minors were also abused.
“A criminal attitude on the part of Ngo and others amounted to gaining money with total disregard to the physical and psychological impact on the victim.”
Sternberg said the migrants kept at the safe house were “forbidden to leave, and were obliged to be silent during their stay.”
Four men jailed for decades over deaths of 39 Vietnamese found in truck
He said Ngo also arranged for taxis to take the Vietnamese migrants to a location near the France-Belgium border before they were put on to the truck bound for Britain.
Sternberg said there was “sufficient evidence” to bring a case against Ngo, potentially this summer.
The matter will now be sent to the Home Office for the Secretary of State to rubber-stamp extradition, pending any appeal by Ngo’s legal team.


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Vietnam

Vietnamese teenager to be extradited from UK to Belgium over Essex migrant truck deaths

A woman lights a candle at a make shift memorial at a fundraising event organised by Britain’s Vietnamese community to raise money for the families of the 39 people found inside a truck. File photo: Reuters

The bodies of 39 Vietnamese migrants were discovered in the back of a truck in Essex in 2019. File photo: AFP

Vietnam jails four over their role in UK truck deaths of 39 migrants

Defendants are seen during a trial in Ha Tinh province against those involved in the deaths of 39 migrants found in a refrigerated truck in Britain last year. Photo: AFP

FILE PHOTO: Tran Thi Hien, mother of Anna Bui Thi Nhung, one of 39 Vietnamese people found dead in a truck near London last year, cries while following an ambulance carrying her daughter's coffin during the funeral ceremony at her village in Nghe An province, Vietnam November 30, 2019. REUTERS/Kham/File Photo

UK truck deaths: Vietnamese victims’ families have mixed feelings after two convicted

Nguyen Dinh Gia, the father of victim Nguyen Dinh Luong, kneels in his yard in Ha Tinh province, Vietnam. He said he feels sorry for the two men convicted of manslaughter as they were only trying to make a living. Photo: Reuters

(FILES) In this file photo taken on October 10, 2020, Le Minh Tuan, father of the late 30-year-old Le Van Ha who was among 39 people found dead in a truck in Britain last year, cries in front of his son's prayer altar in their house in Vietnam's Nghe An province. - A father of a Vietnamese migrant who suffocated to death in a truck in Britain alongside 38 others, said on December 22, 2020 that he feels sorry for two men convicted of manslaughter and people smuggling. (Photo by Nhac NGUYEN / AFP) / TO GO WITH Vietnam-Britain-migration, FOCUS by Tran Thi Minh Ha

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Ngo Sy Tai is wanted in Belgium over allegations he ran a so-called ‘safe house’ for his fellow Vietnamese nationals in Brussels
Thirty-nine migrants from Vietnam were found suffocated to death in the back of a refrigerated truck near London in 2019



Ngo Sy Tai is wanted in Belgium over allegations he ran a so-called ‘safe house’ for his fellow Vietnamese nationals in Brussels.


UK truck deaths

Britain

Human trafficking

Vietnamese teenager to be extradited from UK to Belgium over Essex migrant truck deaths

Ngo Sy Tai is wanted in Belgium over allegations he ran a so-called ‘safe house’ for his fellow Vietnamese nationals in Brussels Thirty-nine migrants from Vietnam were found suffocated to death in the back of a refrigerated truck near London in 2019

Ngo Sy Tai is wanted in Belgium over allegations he ran a so-called ‘safe house’ for his fellow Vietnamese nationals in Brussels

Thirty-nine migrants from Vietnam were found suffocated to death in the back of a refrigerated truck near London in 2019