Inside the sick Vietnamese slave trade as desperate migrants work 60-hour weeks in UK nail salons to ‘pay off’ smugglers
IT'S the ultimate status symbol in Vietnam to have a loved one move to the UK so they can get a "dream" job and send back money - yet the reality couldn't be more different.
Thousands of Vietnamese slaves are working 60-hour weeks for little or no pay in cramped and unsafe British nail salons, after being duped by the callous trafficking gangs who smuggled them in.
Dreams of "better life" laid bare with lorry deaths
Despite paying up to £39,000 for a "VIP" trip to Britain, the migrants find themselves trapped in the grips of evil slavemasters, with some even being pushed into prostitution and drug farming.
Their idealistic dreams of a "better life" in the UK have now been laid bare after 39 migrants were found dead in a blood-stained lorry trailer in Essex last week, with many feared to be Vietnamese.
Among the suspected victims are Anna Bui Thi Nhung, 19, Nguyen Dinh Luong, 20, and Nguyen Dinh Tu, 27 - all of whom had dreamed of working in one of our estimated 30,000 nail salons.
Yet those Vietnamese migrants who are lucky enough to survive the journey often find themselves in terrible conditions.
“I ended up working very long hours, earning just enough money for noodles each night," recalls Vietnamese former salon worker Li Tan, who survived the perilous journey to Britain when she was 15 and was forced to work as a prostitute when her workplace turned into a brothel at night.
"I was raped and sexually abused by different men who would come to the nail bar."
To keep their young victims quiet, gangmasters often threaten them with deportation.
"[Victims are] told 'you’re illegal in this country. If you run away or say anything about what happened to you, then they’re going to deport you back to your country'," Laura Durán, of the charity Every Child Protected Against Trafficking (ECPAT) UK, tells Sun Online.
Other popular connecting countries including France, Germany and Poland.
"They go through jungles, forests and they're kept in wooden huts," immigration lawyer Harjap Bhangal tells Sun Online, describing a migrant's typical, dangerous journey to Britain.
"The gangs are ruthless. If someone is slowing down the group the smugglers will kill them."
Victims targeted in poverty-stricken areas
While Vietnam as a whole has seen a reduction in poverty, not all regions have been affected equally - so the majority of migrants come from a select few poor provinces.
In Nghe An and Ha Tinh - where many lorry victims are feared to be from - the countryside is dotted with billboards for labour export firms advertising jobs or study overseas.
"Almost everyone round here has a relative overseas," local Bui Thac, whose nephew Bui Phan Thang is suspected to be among those found dead last week, told Reuters.
"Young people must find ways to work abroad because it's difficult to work at home."
Exploited by salon bosses
For those who survive the horror passage to Britain, their nightmare's far from over.
While plenty of the country's nail salons and grooming parlours are reputable businesses, police say the industry has become a hotbed of labour exploitation.
"Labour exploitation in nail bars is one of the most prevalent areas of modern day slavery in the UK," Hardeep Walker, of the National Crime Agency (NCA), told our Stamp Out Slavery campaign this year.
He added: "The salon conditions are usually quite small and cramped and can have a strong smell of chemicals. The exploiter will be present in the salon, often acting as a front of house member of staff who meets and greets customers and takes payment whilst keeping a watchful eye over the workers."
Even when their shift is finally over, the workers have no escape - because they tend to sleep in rooms above or attached to salons, and have no money of their own to spend.
Souce: Unseen
- If you think you or someone you have come across might be a victim of modern slavery call The Salvation Army’s confidential 24/7 referral helpline on 0300 303 8151