They stole my mother’s organs: a Vietnamese human trafficking victim on going to the UK
- Nguyen was held captive in Vietnam and then forced to work on cannabis farms and in a restaurant in the UK before being rescued by the authorities
- He is among thousands of Vietnamese children and adults who have been identified as victims of human trafficking in Britain
He was only about four years old when his father fell sick and the family had to borrow money to cover the hospital expenses – but they could not avoid his death.
“I remember my mum and I working for some people to pay off the debt. One day, we were taken on a motorbike to a very faraway place,” he recalls. “It was in a very remote mountainous area but they had a very big house with a big farm area.”
The scenery may sound idyllic, but this was the beginning of a harrowing journey that stretched from Vietnam to England – and involved exploitation, abuse and pain. Nguyen, now his early 20s, was held captive in Vietnam and then smuggled to Britain, where he was forced to work on cannabis farms and in a restaurant before eventually being rescued by the British authorities.
They said I should keep working very hard, otherwise I would have my organs removed like my mum
Nguyen did not learn how to read or write as a child and had to use the harvest seasons and the Chinese New Year celebrations as his time references. So he isn’t sure how old he was when he witnessed a group of men kill his mother.
