The leader of the case of 39 Vietnamese people dead in a container in the UK is Vietnamese

On January 19, the Criminal Court of Brugges, Belgium, sentenced a Vietnamese man residing in Belgium to 15 years in prison for manslaughter leading to the deaths of 39 Vietnamese people in a refrigerated truck while trying to illegally enter the UK in late October 2019.

Belgian court issues verdict on case

According to information published in the media, the Criminal Court of Brugges city has imposed the highest penalty of 15 years in prison on Vo Van Hong, 45 years old, a Vietnamese residing in Belgium, for organizing a human trafficking ring and being primarily responsible for the deaths of 39 Vietnamese people when they hid in a refrigerated container of a truck departing from the Belgian port of Zeebrugges to illegally enter the UK in late 2019. According to the indictment, Vo Van Hong also had his assets confiscated and fined a total of more than 3 million euros.

Seventeen other defendants, including 11 Vietnamese and Vietnamese-origin people, were sentenced to between 18 months and 10 years in prison. They were found to have used their private homes as meeting points for migrants, provided false documents or acted as intermediaries.

The verdict also said the gang was well organised, specialising in bringing illegal immigrants into Europe to their final destination, the UK, at a cost of 24,000 euros per person.

In late October 2019, British authorities discovered the bodies of 39 Vietnamese people in a refrigerated truck parked in an industrial park in Essex, England. Following the incident, British, Belgian and other European police coordinated investigations.

In January 2021, a British court convicted seven men of manslaughter and immigration offences, with sentences ranging from three to 27 years in prison. France has so far detained 26 people involved in human trafficking into Europe and is preparing to bring them to trial.

According to VOV