Nov 13, 2019 – Vietnamese migrants are lured to work in nail bars and cannabis factories
I think often they know it’s a very, very dangerous journey but they have no choice. They had no choice because the smugglers forced them.
Diep Vuong, chief executive of the Pacific Links Foundation, a California-based charity that works to empower people in Vietnam, said the UK had for years been a lucrative people-smuggling destination.
The trade took hold, Ms Vuong said, because cannabis fetched a higher price in the UK than elsewhere in Europe. Estimates show most migrants from Vietnam head to other Asian countries such as Malaysia, Taiwan and South Korea. However, Ms Vuong said the UK’s reputation as a wealthy but tolerant society meant some Vietnamese families would pay big sums to have a child smuggled to the UK. Studies have found families pay up to £33,000 each.
