Trafficking gang ringleader jailed over involvement of 39 people found dead in Essex

A Vietnamese man has been jailed for 15 years in Belgium after he was found to be the ringleader of a gang that trafficked migrants who were found dead in a lorry in the UK.

Vo Van Hong was found guilty of leading a cross-Channel trafficking operation based in Belgium.

In 2019, thirty-nine Vietnamese people, aged 15-44, were found suffocated at an industrial site in Essex.

The Belgian court found at least 15 of the people found had been trafficked through Vo's network.

Vo was one of 23 people on trial in Belgium, four people were convicted on manslaughter in the UK last year.

The tragedy emerged in the Essex town of Grays, and exposed the exploitative nature of migrants looking to get to the UK.

Vo had denied involvement, but the Belgian court said he had been responsible for running a criminal operation that had smuggled at least 115 people across the Channel between September 2018 and his arrest in May 2020.

Vo claimed he had been a victim of the gang.

Four of those put on trial in Bruges were cleared by the court, while 19 were convicted. All of those involved were found to be Vietnamese or Belgian, but of Vietnamese descent.

They were accused of playing an intricate role in the trip across the Channel from Zebrugge that proved to be deadly, buying supplies for the migrants, transporting them in taxis or acting as look-outs in the Anderlecht area.