Sentencing of a group of subjects organizing illegal immigration

On April 18, the People's Court of Nghe An province opened a trial of the defendants: Thai Thi Ly (born in 1973), residing in Ben Thuy ward, Vinh city, Nghe An; Phong Thi Bich Thuy (born in 1986), residing in Cai Rang district, Can Tho city; Dang Thi Tuyet (born in 1971), residing in Ha Tinh province; Ta Van Trung (born in 1965) and Nguyen Thanh Huyen (born in 1980), both residing in Vinh city, for the crime of "Organizing others to flee abroad".

Thai Thi Ly met a man named Hung who worked in the labor export service in 2021. Hung introduced to Ly that he could send Vietnamese people to Australia to work with a crew visa, valid for 3 years, costing 28,000 USD/person, and payment would be made upon arrival. Hearing that, Ly agreed to find people who wanted to go to Australia to work for advice, and receive money to pay Hung to earn the difference.

In early 2022, Hung continued to advise Ly on the possibility of completing procedures for workers to go to Canada by traveling to Dubai. After that, they would apply for a Canadian visa and then stay illegally to work in agriculture with a salary of 60 to 80 million VND/month, the cost of going was 14,000 USD/person.

After that, Ly discussed and agreed with Ta Van Trung to do the procedures for people to go to Canada at a cost of 16,000 USD/person. Trung discussed and agreed with Tran Thi Thinh (who has fled and is currently wanted) and Nguyen Thanh Huyen on how to find people to go abroad at a cost of 18,000 USD/person. Thinh continued to discuss with Dang Thi Tuyet and reported the cost of 20,000 USD/person. At each step, Trung, Thinh, Huyen and Tuyet increased the cost by 2,000 USD/person to enjoy the difference.

The investigation agency determined that from January 2021 to September 2022, Thai Thi Ly received more than 6.1 billion VND, organized 3 times for 19 people to enter Dubai on tourist visas, with the purpose of continuing procedures to go to Canada, Australia, France, Germany... to work illegally. Ly illegally profited more than 2.8 billion VND.

In this case, Phong Thi Bich Thuy was the person Ly trusted and invited to cooperate in business. When meeting the victims, Thuy advised that she would help workers from Vietnam go to Dubai with tourist visas and then apply for visas to go to Canada, Australia, France, Germany, etc. Thuy received more than 1.2 billion VND, organizing 2 times for 13 people.

Ta Van Trung received 87,000 USD and nearly 500 million VND, organizing 2 trips for 9 people. Meanwhile, Nguyen Thanh Huyen received 915 million VND, organizing 2 trips for 4 people. Dang Thi Tuyet alone received more than 1 billion VND, organizing 2 people to illegally leave the country.

After leaving for Dubai, none of the workers could complete the procedures to go to Canada, France, Australia, Germany, etc. to work according to the agreement, so they returned to Vietnam one by one.

At the trial, the defendants all admitted to committing the crime for greed. The victim attended the court and requested that the defendants return the money.

As the mastermind in the case, defendant Thai Thi Ly was sentenced to 9 years in prison.

Committing the crime as an accomplice and aiding, defendant Phong Thi Bich Thuy was sentenced to 5 years and 6 months in prison; Ta Van Trung was sentenced to 4 years and 6 months in prison; defendant Nguyen Thanh Huyen was sentenced to 30 months in prison with a suspended sentence and Dang Thi Tuyet was sentenced to 18 months in prison with a suspended sentence.

Regarding the man named Hung. Ly stated that Hung is Giap Van Quynh (born in 1983, Bac Giang), the investigation agency had Ly identify him and searched Quynh's residence but did not discover or seize any documents related to the case. Quynh was taken into custody but said he did not know Ly. Currently, there is only Ly's testimony so the investigation agency does not have enough grounds to handle the case.