NCA people smuggling investigation concludes

Steven Ball has concluded the prosecution in Operation Mutazala, a major NCA investigation into an organised crime group facilitating the illegal entry of Vietnamese migrants into the UK.

The sophisticated operation offered migrants an “end-to-end” journey from Vietnam to Europe. Passports were taken from migrants in France and used as a form of debt bondage, before individuals were transported to the UK by small boats and lorries and placed into workplaces to repay the costs of their journey. The group was also involved in laundering the proceeds of the operation.

The investigation uncovered the scale of the network, including 220 Vietnamese passports recovered from one vehicle and more than £1.65 million transferred through 740 transactions to accounts in Vietnam.

The case involved close cooperation between the NCA and law-enforcement partners in France and Belgium and combined issues of organised immigration crime, exploitation and complex money laundering.

Five members of the group were sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court on 15th September for a combined total of up to 40 years.

Steven Ball has particular expertise in serious and organised crime and cases involving modern slavery, human trafficking and people smuggling. He led Jon Keane at the CPS and was instructed by Nina Montalbano of SEOCID, CPS.