Rotherham man involved in people smuggling gang which referred to migrants as 'chickens' in coded messages
Investigators express their disgust at the “heartless language used to describe their human cargo”
A Rotherham man has been jailed over his role in an organised crime gang responsible for people trafficking and money laundering.
.jpeg?crop=3:2,smart&trim=&width=640&quality=65)
An investigation began in July 2025 when French Customs officers seized a package of chocolates and clothes and instead found 22 Vietnamese passports.
A National Crime Agency probe pointed to five suspects: twin brothers Vinh Van Nguyen and Quang Van Nguyen, 31, from Coventry; Lia-Chien Trong, 34, and Sy Trai Ho, 28, both of no fixed UK abode; and Van Huy Nguyen, 23, from Rotherham.
Officers uncovered an sophisticated operation to smuggle people from Vietnam to Europe then withholding their passports.
Messages between the gang members found coded messages in which migrants seeking a new life in Europe were called ‘chickens’.
NCA branch commander Sara-Jayne Moore said: “This group had no qualms about transporting migrants for profit, as shown by the heartless language used to describe their human cargo.”
The operation was run by Vinh and Quang who advertised people smuggling services from Vietnam to Europe, with Vinh messaging contacts on Facebook offering an “end-to-end service”.
Passports were taken from migrants by members of the crime group in France, before they travelled to the UK via small boats and lorries.
Using the withheld passports for extortion, the organised crime group then collected money from the migrants and then sent payments for crossings back to Vietnam via Post Offices and money transfers bureaus such as Western Union, Money Gram or Ria.
Quang was arrested by West Midlands Police in Birmingham city centre in September 2025.
His car was searched and found to contain more than £16,700 in cash and 220 Vietnamese passports.
Trong was linked to the conspiracy following forensic analysis of a bag in the car which contained a number of passports wrapped in a bloodstained Argentina football shirt, which contained Trong’s DNA.
Quang’s phone wasexamined and found to contain coded messages about people smuggling referring to the movement of ‘chickens’ (slang for migrants) and the prices.
Examination of Vinh’s phone showed conversations believed to relate to the movement of migrants through Hungary including routes, flights, passports, addresses near migrant safehouses in France, as well as references to lifejackets.
Communication using the “Zalo” app between Vinh and Huy, show Vinh discussing the movement of people and travel routes. There was discussion in the same chat advertising routes from Vietnam to the UK costing $20,000 per person.
Vinh’s phone was also found to contain multiple searches, which provides detailed visualised mapping data for weather forecasts including wind and wave data for the English Channel. The website was accessed 99 times over a 61-day period.
Production Orders were served on Western Union, Ria Money Transfer and MoneyGram following the suspect’s arrests.
These showed that between them they transferred more than £1.65 million across 740 transactions to accounts in Vietnam between July 2024 and October 2025.
Vinh was convicted by a jury at Liverpool Crown Court on August 25 following a two-week trial. Quang and Trong pleaded guilty at previous hearings, while Ho and Huy changed their pleas to guilty just after the trial started.
On September 15, Vinh was sentenced to 12 years and six months in prison, Quang to nine years and nine months, Huy to seven years and two months, Trong to six years and Ho to four years.