Vietnamese migrants tend to be trafficked by the gangs into nail bars, cannabis farms and the sex trade in the UK, which is why the crime bosses prefer lorries rather than small boats where migrants are likely to be detained by Border Force.
“There are a lot of variables out of their control with small boat crossings but situations change and they have to adapt,” said Mimi Vu, an anti-trafficking and modern slavery expert based in Vietnam.
“One Vietnamese I interviewed said they had crammed 60 people onto an inflatable that left at 3am in the morning and didn’t get there until 1pm. The Vietnamese on the boat were holding each other as they were so scared.
“None of them could swim. They are not used to being on open water and they were absolutely terrified. They could not see anything as it was dark.
“A couple of weeks ago, another victim told me they crossed in an inflatable boat with about 40 people in it – half Vietnamese, half Caucasian. The Vietnamese tend to stick together. They don’t mix with other groups. The surge is all because of this backlog built up of Vietnamese stuck in Europe.”
‘When they get to the UK the Vietnamese disappear very quickly’
The imperative for the Vietnamese migrants is to work off the loans taken out by their families and paid to the trafficking gangs, which is why they abscond or disappear into the black market after being detained.
“The Vietnamese people smugglers have started using boats again as they seem to be more effective than lorries,” said Claire Moseley, founder of the charity Care4Calais. “Border Force say they have been behind some of the bigger boat crossings.
“They keep themselves to themselves and are more underground. You don’t see them in the camps in the same way as the others. When they get to the UK, all the others claim asylum but the Vietnamese disappear very quickly.”
A tragedy exploited
Ms Vu said the Essex lorry scandal had shocked Vietnam by “shining a light” on the suffering of trafficked migrants who tended to keep their exploitation secret from their parents. However, despite the publicity, the tragedy has been exploited by the gangs to hike prices.
“The victims were portrayed as unlucky or having paid too little. A common thought in Vietnamese culture is that the more you pay, the better service you get. So what happened was that the smugglers and traffickers were able to increase the price,” she said.
The cost of crossings has, as a result, jumped by at least £10,000 from £15,000 to £20,000. This money is paid by the families largely by borrowing from loan sharks, who can be linked to the trafficking gangs.
Ms Vu said the sky-high interest rates of 700 to 1,000 per cent meant that migrants trafficked to Europe had just three objectives: to repay the debt, send remittances to their families (which account for nearly seven per cent of Vietnam’s GDP) and earn enough to live off.
“I interviewed one man who worked in a sweat shop for three years to pay off $17,000. After three years, the principle loan wasn’t even touched,” said Ms Vu.
