BBC: A member of the Vietnamese smuggling gang who offered our undercover reporter a spot on a small boat to the UK emerged cautiously from the shadows of a scraggly forest near the northern French coastline. The smuggler, sporting bright dyed blonde hair, instructed our team member to move away from the group and quickly led them across a disused railway line. Moments later, the smuggler disappeared into the woods, resembling a startled fox.
Vietnam has recently become a major source of new migrants attempting to cross the Channel to the UK illegally in small boats. Our investigation, which involved interviews with Vietnamese smugglers, clients, French authorities, and charities, uncovered a trend where Vietnamese migrants are paying a premium for a faster and more efficient smuggling experience. This “elite” service may also be safer, as the death toll in the Channel reaches record levels.
In our efforts to infiltrate Vietnamese smuggling operations, we encountered a smuggler operating in the UK who forges documents for migrants. Additionally, our undercover reporter, posing as a Vietnamese migrant, arranged to meet a smuggling gang in the woods near Dunkirk to learn about the process. The smuggler, named Bac, quoted a price of £2,600 for a small boat service to the UK, to be paid upon arrival. Bac may be a key figure in a UK-based gang, possibly overseeing Tony, the blonde man in the woods.
Vietnamese migrants are often vulnerable to trafficking networks, which may exploit them for forced labor to repay debts incurred during their journey. These gangs operate separately from other groups in camps around Dunkirk and Calais, maintaining a low profile and minimal interaction with other migrants and volunteers.
The streamlined service offered by Vietnamese smugglers involves less time spent waiting in camps compared to other migrant groups. African and Middle Eastern migrants often endure weeks or months in poor conditions before attempting the crossing, while Vietnamese migrants arrive when a crossing is imminent. The Vietnamese do not conduct the small boat crossings themselves but negotiate access and timings with Iraqi Kurdish gangs.
While the costs of the Vietnamese smuggling services are clear, the safety aspect remains uncertain. It is a fact – and perhaps a telling one – that during the first nine months of 2024, not a single Vietnamese was among the dozens of migrants confirmed to have died while trying to cross the Channel. However, in October, a Vietnamese migrant did die in one incident, making this the deadliest year on record for small boat crossings.
It is possible that by paying extra, the Vietnamese are able to secure access to less crowded boats, which are therefore less likely to sink. But this has not been confirmed.
What does seem clearer is that the Vietnamese smugglers are cautious about sending their clients out on boats in bad weather. Texts from Bac to our undercover reporter included specific suggestions regarding travel to the camp and the best day to arrive.
“Running a small boat service depends on the weather. You need small waves. And it must be safe… We had good weather earlier this week and lots of boats left… It would be good if you can be here [in Dunkirk] tomorrow. I’m planning a [cross-Channel] move on Thursday morning,” Bac texted.
Sitting outside their tents in two separate camps in the woods near Dunkirk earlier this month, two young men told us almost identical stories about the events that had prompted them to leave Vietnam in order to seek new lives. They had borrowed money to start small businesses in Vietnam, which had failed, and then borrowed more money from relatives and loan sharks to pay smugglers to bring them to the UK.
“Life in Vietnam is difficult. I couldn’t find a proper job. I tried to open a shop, but it failed. I was unable to pay back the loan, so I must find a way to earn money. I know this [is illegal] but I have no other option. I owe [the Vietnamese equivalent of] £50,000. I sold my house, but it wasn’t enough to pay off the debt,” said Tu, 26, reaching down to stroke a kitten that strolled past.
Two chickens emerged from behind another tent. A mirror hung from a nearby tree. Plug sockets were available under a separate awning for charging phones.
The Vietnamese migrants we spoke to told us they hoped to pay off debts by working in the UK.
The second migrant, aged 27, described how he had reached Europe via China, sometimes on foot or in trucks.
“I heard from my friends in the UK that life is much better there, and I can find a way to make some money,” said the man, who did not want to give his name.
Are these people victims of human trafficking? It is unclear. All the Vietnamese migrants we spoke to said they were in debt. If they ended up working for the smuggling gangs in the UK in order to pay for their journey and to pay off their debts, then they would, indeed, have been trafficked.
We had sought to draw the blonde Vietnamese smuggler, Tony, out of a nearby forest and onto more neutral territory, where his gang – possibly armed, as other gangs certainly are – might pose less of a threat to us. We intended to confront him about his involvement in a lucrative and often deadly criminal industry. But Tony remained wary of leaving his own “turf” and grew impatient and angry when our colleague, still posing as a potential migrant, declined to follow him into the forest.
“Why are you staying there? Follow that path. Move quickly! Now,” Tony ordered.
There was a brief pause. The sound of birdsong drifted across the clearing.
“What an idiot… Do you just want to stand there and get caught by the police?” the smuggler asked, with rising exasperation.
Then he turned away and retreated into the woods.
Had our colleague been a genuine migrant, she would probably have followed Tony. We were told by other sources that once in the camps, migrants were not allowed to leave unless they paid hundreds of dollars to the smugglers.
The Vietnamese gangs may be promising a quick, safe, “elite” route to the UK, but the reality is much darker – a criminal industry, backed by threats, involving deadly risks and no guarantee of success.
Additional reporting by Kathy Long and Léa Guedj. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a public service broadcaster headquartered in the United Kingdom.”