A Vietnamese man has been arrested in Birmingham on suspicion of being a high-ranking member of a people smuggling network, the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) said.
The 23-year-old man was detained during a raid on a property in the Handsworth area at around 6 a.m. on Monday.
He was detained by NCA officers as he attempted to exit the building out of a window onto a flat roof below.
A large quantity of cash, estimated to be around £10,000 ($13,840), was also recovered from the property.
The arrest is part of an investigation into the smuggling of mainly Vietnamese illegal immigrants into the UK in the backs of lorries in August and September 2020, the NCA said.
The man is now being questioned on suspicion of assisting illegal immigration to the UK and money laundering offences.
Paul Boniface, NCA Branch Operations Manager, said the agency is “determined to disrupt and dismantle people smuggling networks wherever they are operating.”
“These groups treat people as a commodity to be profited from and are quite happy to put lives at risk in dangerous journeys in the back of trucks or in small boats.”
Boniface said the investigation is still ongoing as “protecting life and preventing exploitation are our priorities.”
The NCA did not disclose whether this latest arrest was in any way linked to the deaths of 39 Vietnamese illegal immigrants in 2019.
On Jan. 22, 2021, seven men convicted over the deaths of the 39 immigrants were sentenced to a total of 93 years and eight months in prison.
Human smugglers often hide illegal immigrants inside UK-bound lorries to evade customs checks, a practice that puts the immigrants’ lives in danger.
In 2000, 58 Chinese immigrants were found dead in the back of a truck in Dover. The driver was later found guilty of manslaughter.
