British Broadcasting CorporationThe Vietnamese people smuggler emerged briefly and hesitantly from the shadows of a tangled forest near France’s northern coastline.
“Get away from everyone else. Come here,” he said, pointing to an abandoned railway line to a member of our team who had spent weeks posing as a potential customer.
After a moment, the smuggler – a tall man with brightly dyed blond hair – turned sharply and disappeared down a narrow path into the woods like a frightened fox.
Earlier this year, Vietnam suddenly emerged—— As the largest single source of new immigrants Attempting to illegally cross the English Channel to the UK in a small boat. Arrivals surged from 1,306 in all of 2023 to 2,248 in the first half of 2024.
Our investigation – which includes interviews with Vietnamese smugglers and clients, French police, prosecutors and charities – reveals how Vietnamese migrants pay double for a faster, more streamlined “elite” boat smuggling experience. With a record number of deaths in the English Channel this year, there are some signs that the Channel may also be safer.
As part of our work to infiltrate operations in Vietnam we met an experienced smuggler operating in the UK Forging documents for immigrants seeking to reach Europe. Separately, our undercover reporter posed as a Vietnamese immigrant and arranged via phone calls and text messages to meet with a smuggling gang operating in the woods near Dunkirk to learn how the entire process worked.
“The boat service costs £2,600. Payment is due upon arrival in the UK. We have heard similar figures from other sources. We believe Buck may be a senior figure in a British gang and the boss of Tony, the blond man in the woods.
He walks us through the journey from Europe to the UK, explaining how many migrants first fly from Vietnam to Hungary – where we learn it is now relatively easy for them to obtain legal work visas, often using forged documents obtained. The migrants then headed to Paris and then to Dunkirk, Buck said.
“Tony can be there [Dunkirk] Station,” he said in a later text.
Vietnamese migrants are widely believed to be vulnerable to trafficking syndicate networks. These groups may try to get them into debt and force them to repay those debts by working on cannabis farms or other businesses in the UK.
It is clear from several recent visits to refugee camps around Dunkirk and Calais that Vietnamese gangs and their clients operate separately from other organizations.
“They keep to themselves and are more cautious than others. We rarely see them,” said Claire Millot, a volunteer at Salam, a supporter of Dunk. Immigration NGOs.
Volunteers at another charity told us about a rare sighting of about 30 Vietnamese recently buying life jackets at the Dunkirk branch of sports equipment chain Decathlon.
In addition to maintaining distance, the streamlined services provided by Vietnamese gangs have significantly reduced wait times in camps. Many African and Middle Eastern migrants have spent weeks or even months in harsh conditions on the French coast. Some people don’t have enough cash to pay for the trip on the boat and try to earn it by working for smuggling syndicates. Many were stopped by French police on the beaches and had to make multiple attempts to successfully cross the English Channel.
On a recent visit, we saw dozens of weary families from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Eritrea and elsewhere gathering in drizzle at a muddy site where humanitarian organizations were delivering daily meals and medical aid . A group of children were playing Connect 4 on a picnic table while a man sought treatment for an injured arm. Several parents told us they had heard that a four-month-old Kurdish boy drowned after the boat he was traveling in capsized while trying to cross the English Channel the night before. None of them said death would stop them from trying.
No Vietnamese in sight. Apparently, Vietnamese smugglers tend to take their clients to camps in northern France when the weather is already looking good and a border crossing is imminent.
Earlier this year, we first encountered the new influx of Vietnamese immigrants who stumbled upon a camp near Dunkirk. It looks neater and more organized than other migrant camps, with matching tents lined up in a straight line and a group cooking a tantalizingly elaborate meal of fried garlic, onions and Vietnamese spices.
“They were very organized, united, and stayed together in the camp. They were really amazing. When they reached the coast, we knew they would soon be crossing the river. These people were probably richer than the others.
The Vietnamese themselves do not control small boats crossing the border; Mainly overseen by a handful of Iraqi Kurdish gangs. Instead, they negotiate access and timing.
“The Vietnamese are not allowed to touch this part of the process [the crossing]. We just send customers to [the Kurdish gangs]”, said another Vietnamese smuggler, whom we will call Thanh, who currently lives in the UK. He told us that the extra cash ensures priority use of the small boats for Vietnamese customers.
While relative costs are obvious, safety issues are murkier. It’s a fact, perhaps a telling one: among the dozens of migrants confirmed to have died while trying to cross the English Channel in the first nine months of 2024, not a single one was Vietnamese. But a Vietnamese migrant did die in an incident in October, making the year now the deadliest on record for small boat crossings.
By paying a premium, the Vietnamese might have been able to obtain ships that were less crowded and therefore less likely to sink. But we can’t confirm this yet.
What seems clearer is that Vietnamese smugglers are wary of putting clients on boats in bad weather. Buck’s briefing to our undercover reporter included specific advice on getting to the camp and the best days to arrive.
“The operation of the small boat service depends on the weather. You need small waves. And it must be safe… The weather was great earlier this week and a lot of boats left… It would be great if you could be here [in Dunkirk] tomorrow. I’m planning one [cross-Channel] Moving Thursday morning,” Buck texted.
Earlier this month, two young men sat outside their tents at two separate camps in the woods near Dunkirk and told us nearly identical stories about the events that prompted them to leave Vietnam in search of a new life. How they borrowed money to start small businesses in Vietnam, how those businesses failed, and then how they borrowed more money from relatives and loan sharks to pay smugglers to take them to the UK.
“Life in Vietnam is hard. I couldn’t find a suitable job. I tried to open a shop but failed. I couldn’t repay the loan, so I had to find a way to make money. I know this [is illegal] But I have no choice. i owe [the Vietnamese equivalent of] £50,000. I sold the house, but not enough to pay off the debt.
Two chickens emerge from behind another tent. A mirror hangs from a nearby tree. Plug sockets are located under a separate awning for charging mobile phones.
A second migrant, 27, described how he arrived in Europe via China, sometimes on foot or in a truck.
“I heard from friends in the UK that life was much better there and that I could find ways to make money,” said the man, who asked not to be named.
Are these people victims of human trafficking? It’s not clear yet. All Vietnamese immigrants we interviewed said they were deeply in debt. If they end up working for a smuggling ring in the UK to pay for their passage and repay their debts, then they have indeed been trafficked.
We tried to lure Tony, a blond Vietnamese smuggler, from the nearby forest to a more neutral area, where his gang – probably armed like the other gangs – might pose less of a threat to us. We intend to question his involvement in a lucrative and often deadly criminal industry. But Tony remained wary of leaving his “turf” and became impatient and angry when our colleague, still posing as a potential immigrant, refused to follow him into the forest.
“Why are you staying there? Follow that road. Move quickly! Now,” Tony ordered.
There was a brief pause. The sound of birdsong came from the clearing.
“What an idiot… Do you just want to stand there and be caught by the police?” the smuggler asked with increasing annoyance.
Then he turned around and retreated into the woods.
If our colleague was a real immigrant, she might follow Tony. Other sources tell us that once inside a refugee camp, migrants are not allowed to leave unless they pay hundreds of dollars to smugglers.
Vietnamese crime syndicates may promise a fast, safe, “elite” route to the UK, but the reality is much darker – a crime industry backed by threats, involving deadly risks and no guarantee of success.
Additional reporting by Kathy Long and Léa Guedj
