Smuggler selling 'fast track' Crossing the Channel talks to undercover BBC reporter

A Vietnamese people smuggler emerged, briefly and reluctantly, from the shadows of the green forest near the northern French coast.

“Get away from others. Come over here, quick,” he said, pointing to a member of our team, who had spent weeks posing as a potential customer.

After a while, the smuggler – a tall person with brightly dyed red hair – turned away sharply, like a frightened fox, and disappeared down a narrow path into the forest.

Earlier this year, Vietnam emerged – out of nowhere – as one of the biggest sources of new migrants looking to cross the Channel to the UK illegally in small boats. Arrivals increased from 1,306 in the full year of 2023, to 2,248 in the first half of 2024.

Our investigation – which includes interviews with Vietnamese smugglers and clients, French police, prosecutors and charities – reveals how Vietnamese migrants pay double the usual price for the fast and easy “high end” small boat smuggling experience. With the number of deaths at this station reaching its highest level this year, there are indications that it may be safer as well.

As part of our work to infiltrate Vietnamese jobs, we met a smuggler who was operating in the UK and was making fake documents for migrants who wanted to reach Europe. Separately, our undercover reporter – posing as a Vietnamese immigrant – arranged, by phone and text, to meet with a smuggling group operating in the jungle near Dunkirk to find out how the process works.

“A small boat service is £2,600. Payment will be made once you arrive in the UK,” the smuggler, who identified himself as Bac, texted. We have heard similar figures from other sources. We believe that Bac may be the boss of a UK-based gang and the boss of Tony, the blonde man in the woods.

He had given us instructions about the journey from Europe to the UK, explaining how many migrants started flying from Vietnam to Hungary – where we understand that at the moment it is easy for them to get a valid work visa, which is often obtained using forged documents. Bac said the migrants then went on to Paris and on to Dunkirk.

“Tony can pick you up from the place [Dunkirk] at the station,” he offered, in the following text.

Vietnamese migrants are widely considered to be vulnerable to contact with trafficking groups. These groups may want to get them into debt and force them to pay those debts by working on cannabis farms or other businesses in the UK.

It is clear, from recent visits to camps near Dunkirk and Calais, that Vietnamese gangs and their clients operate separately from other groups.

“They are reserved and more intelligent than others. We see them very young,” said Claire Millot, a volunteer for Salam, an NGO that supports immigrants in Dunkirk.

A volunteer with another charity tells us about getting a rare glimpse of about 30 Vietnamese people buying life jackets at the Dunkirk branch of sports chain Decathlon.

As well as keeping their distance, the convenient service provided by Vietnamese gangsters involves very little waiting in the camps. Many African and Middle Eastern migrants spend weeks, even months, in dire conditions on the French coast. Some do not have enough money to pay for a place on a small boat, and try to earn fare by working for smuggling gangs. Many are stopped on the beaches by the French police and must make several attempts before successfully crossing the Channel.

On a recent trip we saw dozens of weary families – from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Eritrea and elsewhere – huddled in a muddy area where aid groups are providing daily meals and medical aid. A group of children played Connect 4 at a picnic table, while a man sought treatment for a cut on his arm. Several parents told us that they heard about a four-month-old Kurdish boy who drowned last night after the boat he was traveling in capsized while trying to cross the Channel. None of them said that death would stop them from doing their own thing.

There were no Vietnamese in sight. It seems clear that Vietnamese smugglers often bring their clients to camps in northern France when the weather already looks promising and the crossing is imminent.

We had first encountered a new influx of Vietnamese migrants earlier in the year, stumbling upon one of their camps near Dunkirk. It appeared neater and more organized than other migrant camps, with identical tents pitched in straight lines and a team cooking delicious and elaborate meals including fried garlic, onions and Vietnamese spices.

“They are very organized and united and they live together in the camps. They are something. When they reach the shore, we know that the crossing will be done very quickly. It is possible that these are people with more money than others,” said Mathilde Potel, the head of the French police in charge of the fight against illegal immigration in the region.

The Vietnamese do not control the small boats that cross themselves, which are closely watched by a number of Iraqi Kurdish gangs. Instead they negotiate access and times.

“The Vietnamese are not allowed to touch that part of the process [the crossing]. We simply bring clients to them [the Kurdish gangs],” said one Vietnamese smuggler, whom we will call Thanh, who currently lives in the UK. He tells us that the extra money secures important access to small boats for their Vietnamese customers.

While the associated costs are clear, the issue of safety is more complex. It is a fact – and perhaps telling – that during the first nine months of 2024, not a single Vietnamese was among the many migrants confirmed to have died trying to cross the Channel. But in October, a Vietnamese migrant died in one incident, making it the worst year on record for small boat crossings.

It is possible that by paying more, the Vietnamese are able to secure access to overcrowded boats, so they are less likely to sink. But we could not confirm this.

What seems clearer is that Vietnamese smugglers are wary of sending their clients on boats in bad weather. The text from Bac to our undercover reporter includes some suggestions about the trip to the camp, and the best day to arrive.

“Operating the small boat service depends on the weather. You need small waves. And it should be safe… We had good weather earlier this week and there are many boats left… It would be great if you could be here. [in Dunkirk] tomorrow. I plan a [cross-Channel] go on Thursday morning,” Bac wrote in a text message.

Sitting outside their tents at two separate camps in the jungle near Dunkirk earlier this month, two young men told us almost identical stories about the events that led them to leave Vietnam in search of a new life. How they had borrowed money to start small businesses in Vietnam, how those businesses failed, and how they had borrowed more money from relatives and lenders, to pay the smugglers to bring them to the UK.

“Life in Vietnam is difficult. I couldn't find a suitable job. I tried to open a shop, but it failed. I couldn't pay the loan, so I have to find a way to get money. I know this [is illegal] but i have no other option. I owe you [the Vietnamese equivalent of] £50,000. I sold my house, but it wasn't enough to pay the debt,” said Tu, 26, trying to pet a kitten that was passing by.

Two chickens appeared from behind one of the tents. A mirror was hanging from a nearby tree. Plug sockets were located under the separate sun visor for charging phones.

The second migrant, aged 27, explained how he had arrived in Europe via China, sometimes on foot or by truck.

“I heard from my friends in the UK that life is much better there, and I can find a way to make money,” said the man, who did not want to be named.

Are these people victims of human trafficking? It is not clear. All the Vietnamese migrants we spoke to said they were in debt. If they ended up working for the smuggling gangs in the UK to pay for their travel and pay their debts then they would indeed have been trafficked.

We wanted to lure a beautiful Vietnamese smuggler, Tony, out of the nearby jungle and into a neutral area, where his gang – possibly armed, like other gangs – might be less of a threat to us. We intended to confront him about his involvement in the lucrative and often murderous criminal industry. But Tony remained wary of leaving his “forest” and became impatient and angry when his partner, still posing as a potential migrant, refused to follow him into the forest.

“Why are you sitting there? Follow that path. Move fast! Now,” Tony ordered.

There was a little silence. The sound of birdsong drifted through the open space.

“What a fool… You just want to stand there and get caught by the police?” The smuggler asked, showing anger.

Then he turned his back and retreated into the forest.

If my partner was a real immigrant, he would probably follow Tony. We were told by other sources that once in the camps, the migrants were not allowed to leave unless they paid hundreds of dollars to the smugglers.

Vietnamese gangs may promise a fast, safe, “superior” route to the UK, but the reality is much darker – a criminal industry, backed by threats, involving deadly risks and no guarantee of success.

Additional reporting by Kathy Long and Léa Guedj