A Vietnamese crime Lord was imprisoned for running a people who smuggled gangs who burden channel migrants in the UK to work in cannabis farms.
Mai van Nguyen, 35, operated a series of illegal growth in the midlands, London and the north of England – with the help of properties that were rented in the names of other people with the help of fake identity documents.
He worked with colleague Vietnamese Nationals Doung Dinh, 38, from Birmingham, and Nghia Dinh Tran, 24, from Lewisham, Southwest, to force migrants to work on the farms.
In the meantime, Shamraiz Akhtar and Tasawar Hussain, both 50, served as taxi drivers who fell the pressed workers from one cannabis factory to another.
A Vietnamese migrant, only known as 'Witness Z', told how he was exploited by the gang after arriving in the UK in November 2020.
He initially traveled to Great -Britain to pay off money he had borrowed to finance medical treatment for his wife, and received a telephone number to call his human traffickers when he arrived.
Witness Z was driven from London to Birmingham and then put to work in a cannabis farm in nearby Tipton, West Midlands.
He said he had no choice but to work because he had debt division to the people who had transported him to the UK.
Mai van Nguyen, 35, ran a series of farms in the Midlands, London and the north of England
Shamraiz Akhtar and Tasawar Hussain, both 50, served as taxi drivers who fell migrants from one cannabis factory to another
A cannabis farm that was run by the gang with the help of forced labor
Later he was brought on the site of another cannabis farm in Tyseley, Birmingham, where he was forced to clean up the building.
Witness Z was then taken to another cannabis farm in a house in Hartlepool, Tesside.
The building was robbed in June 2021 by the police of Cleveland and witness Z was arrested.
Within officers, a note was attached to a bedroom door with the text 'Take what you want, please don't touch me, I don't know English', along with handwritten diary proceedings from a migrant asking: 'Why am I beaten and forced to to work? '
Another gang member, Amjad Nawaz, 43, was arrested on 7 June 2021 by the National Crime Agency (NCA) in the house of his partner in Hall Green.
Bags cannabis were found in a bedroom upstairs and outbuilding. A series of messages with Nguyen was found on his phone, along with images of cannabis and bundles of cash.
Two days later, Tran was arrested at a cannabis farm in Chaddesden, Derby, where dozens of plants and two migrants were also found. Officers also connected to another address in Chad Road, Birmingham, where a further cannabis farm was found.
Hussain was arrested in August 2021, while he was parked outside a building that turned out to contain another farm in East Ham, London. Four Vietnamese migrants were found indoors.
Amjad Nawaz, 43, and Doung Dinh, 38, helped with the forced labor operation
The farms were robbed by the police as part of an investigation by the National Crime Agency
Akhtar was initially held by police officers in West Midlands, who worked with the NCA in March 2021. At the time, he returned from a cannabis farm in Cheshire and 10 kilos from the medicine was found in his car.
He was again arrested by the NCA in his house in Nechells Park Road, Birmingham in November 2021.
Dinh was arrested at the address of his partner in Essex Street, Birmingham in August 2022.
Van Nguyen was later arrested for smuggling migrants to the UK at the back of HGVs. He was then again arrested for cannabis production and human trafficking in September 2022.
Nguyen was convicted of conspiracy to facilitate illegal immigration and imprisoned five and a half years in November 2023.
He and Tran have both been allowed conspiracy to produce cannabis since until the others denied the indictment.
All six denied accusations of human trafficking for exploitation, but were convicted after a seven -week process to the Birmingham Crown Court.
They were custody in custody on July 4.
Nghia Dinh Tran was arrested at a cannabis growth in Chaddesden, Derby
NCA Branch Commander Kevin Broadhead said: 'These men were responsible for the exploitation of a number of migrants they moved through the UK and forced to work in cannabis farms.
'Not only were the migrants transported to the UK in incredibly dangerous ways in trucks or boats, but they were then made to live in humiliating circumstances to pay off their debt division. We know that some people are also subject to violence.
“But this gang did not care, they only saw the migrants as a way to make money.
“Tackling organized immigration crime is a priority for the NCA, and these are such cases that show exactly why.”
During the NCA Investigation, cannabis farms were found in connection with the network in Tipton, Coventry and Edgbaston in the West Midlands, Derby, Hartlepool, East Ham in London and Gatley in Cheshire. The harvested cannabis was found from a further site in Hall Green, Birmingham.
The NCA research was supported by West Midlands, Cleveland, Derbyshire and Metropolitan Polities, as well as the Crown Prosecution Service and Home Office Immigration Enforcement.
