Five people have been sentenced after being convicted of offences linked to an organised scheme that facilitated illegal entry to the UK of Vietnamese migrants and laundered cash from the activity. The National Crime Agency (NCA) said its investigation began after French Customs officers seized a package at Charles de Gaulle Airport in July 2025. The package, addressed to Quang Nguyen and described as containing chocolates and clothes, was found to contain 22 Vietnamese passports. The NCA investigation, conducted with OLTIM in France and Belgian Federal Judicial Police West Flanders, identified a group run by twin brothers Vinh Van Nguyen and Quang Van Nguyen, both 31 and from Coventry. Prosecutors also identified Van Huy Nguyen, 23, from Rotherham; Lia-Chien Trong, 34; and Sy Trai Ho, 28, both of no fixed UK abode. According to the case, the operation advertised people smuggling services from Vietnam to Europe. It was described as providing an “end-to-end service”, with contacts arranged using Facebook messaging. Members of the wider group collected cash from locations across the UK and sent it onwards to Vietnam. The NCA said passports were taken from migrants in France before they travelled to the UK via small boats and lorries. It said the documents were then used to keep migrants in “debt bondage”, with payments collected from migrants and passed back to Vietnam. Payments were sent through Post Offices and money transfer services including Western Union, MoneyGram and Ria. The NCA said transfers to accounts under the group’s control in Vietnam totalled more than £1.65 million across 740 transactions between July 2024 and October 2025. Police said Quang was arrested by West Midlands Police in Birmingham city centre on 11 September 2025 as part of Operation Fearless. A search of the car found more than £16,700 in cash and 220 Vietnamese passports, along with handwritten notes and receipts from previous money transfers. The NCA said Vinh, Ho and Trong were arrested in Coventry on 1 October 2025 and later rearrested in February with Huy for the first time. Forensic analysis and phone and messaging evidence were also used in the case. At Liverpool Crown Court, Vinh was convicted by a jury on 25 August. Quang and Trong pleaded guilty, while Ho and Huy changed their pleas to guilty just after the trial started. All five were sentenced at the same court on 15 September: Vinh to 12 years and six months, Quang to nine years and nine months, Huy to seven years and two months, Trong to six years, and Ho to four years.