A woman involved in a gang running 40 cannabis farms told police she was a child slavery victim – but was pictured enjoying a Thai foam party at the time she claimed she was being trafficked across Europe.
Hoai Nguyen, 24, was snapped in the Far East, while sister Thanh Nguyen, 23, who claimed to have been trafficked, was pictured drinking beer.
The images found on Facebook by police investigating the slavery claims were taken when both claimed to have been taken through France and Russia, where they said they witnessed other people being murdered. The accounts told through human rights lawyers, which critics said were a bid to evade prosecution, were one of a string of claims revealed by detectives to MPs running an inquiry into modern-day slavery.
In a Lancashire Police submission to the Home Affairs Committee, DS Stuart Peall wrote: “The head of the gang, Jack Nguyen, 35, and partner Thanh Nguyen were stopped on the M6 in Cumbria, and she disposed of £70,000 in cash which was later recovered.
“She claimed to be 15, and he also claimed to be trafficked. She and later her sister provided in-depth details. But social media evidence proved at the time they were in other parts of the world – one at a foam party.”
The Nguyen sisters claimed to be 15 when arrested in 2018, as did a mum of two in the gang who was aged 30 and placed into social care before going missing 24 hours later.
Kim Tran, now 35, was arrested two months later at a cannabis farm run by the gang in Blackpool.
The four were later jailed with 12 other gang members after admitting cannabis production and money laundering offences.
We can also reveal that:
- In May alone this year police forces had 3,632 live modern slavery cases, excluding the Met and Greater Manchester Police;
- A 19-year-old man was put into foster care after he claimed to be 15 – even though police told social services his real age. The day before court he fled and was not found for three years at a cannabis farm.
Last week the Sunday Express revealed forces are being swamped with complex slavery investigations at a time when the Home Office is demanding they investigate every single crime with a viable lead.
The probes, which often centre around cannabis farms, forced labour, prostitution or domestic servitude, can cross borders.
And Assistant Chief Constable Jim Pearce, National Police Chiefs’ Council Lead for Modern Slavery, said there are more than 1,900 specialist investigators.
The Salvation Army has a contract with the Home Office to house and aid slavery victims and last year it helped 3,533 people.
Major Kathy Betteridge, its director of Anti-Trafficking, said: “We have yet to see evidence the system is being widely exploited.”
