Bolton taxi driver charged with people smuggling offences
09.02.2022 - 16:59
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
A Bolton taxi driver has been charged with people smuggling offences.
Karzan Mohammed of Brandwood Street, Daubhill, is due to appear at Wigan Magistrates' Court today charged with conspiring to assist unlawful immigration.
The 32-year-old was arrested by National Crime Agency officers in September last year, and was charged last month.
Meanwhile the NCA said a man who is suspected of being a high-ranking member of the same Vietnamese people smuggling network has also been arrested.
Mai Van Nguyen, 32, of Holloway Circus, Birmingham, was detained in an operation in the Woolton area of Liverpool on Tuesday morning (8 February).
The NCA says he was charged with the offences of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and money laundering and is now due to appear before Birmingham Crown Court today (9 February).
The arrest is the latest phase of an investigation into the smuggling of mainly Vietnamese migrants into the UK in the backs of lorries in August, September and October 2020.
The investigation has already seen a number of others arrested and two men charged.
Ho Sy Quoc, aged 22, of Handsworth, Birmingham, was arrested in September 2021.
He is due to stand trial at the city’s Crown Court on February 28.
The NCA leads the law enforcement response to the organised criminality involved in the trafficking and smuggling of people impacting upon the UK.