Forty-six foreign criminals and immigration offenders have been deported to Vietnam and Timor-Leste on a groundbreaking charter flight.
This operation marks the UK’s first-ever charter flight to Timor-Leste and the first to Vietnam since 2022.
Following the Home Secretary's recent announcement to replace flight planning for Rwanda with flights returning foreign criminals and immigration offenders to their home countries, the flight departed on Wednesday, July 24. It arrived in Timor-Leste at approximately 9 am BST on July 25, successfully transporting individuals from the UK to the two Southeast Asian countries.
This flight underscores the government’s commitment to enhancing its deportation capabilities for individuals without the right to remain in the UK, and to strengthening partnerships with other nations in a shared effort to combat irregular migration. Vietnam has recently been a top nationality among those crossing the Channel in small boats.
The operation coincided with the sentencing of a British people-smuggling gang, including a brother and sister, who attempted to hide two Vietnamese migrants in a concealed compartment of their campervan.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper stated:
"Today’s flight demonstrates the government’s swift and decisive actions to secure our borders and deport those who have no right to be here. We extend our gratitude to the governments of Vietnam and Timor-Leste for their cooperation, without which this operation would not have been possible. Our strong diplomatic ties with these countries are crucial in our mission to restore order to the asylum and immigration system, tackle irregular migration, and ensure that the rules are properly respected and enforced."
Court case images revealed the migrants crammed into a dangerously small crawlspace, less than a foot high, during their transportation between the UK and France.
Siblings Natalie Sirrell and Alan Sirrell, along with Casey Dennis Loughnane and Charlotte Smyth, were sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court.
The court heard how on July 19, 2020, Border Force officers searched a campervan bound for the UK in Coquelles, France, discovering two Vietnamese nationals concealed beneath a bed. Natalie Sirrell, driving the van, and Charlotte Smyth, in the passenger seat, were arrested at the scene.
An investigation identified Alan Sirrell, Loughnane, and Benjamin Tokeley as additional members of the smuggling operation. Alan Sirrell received a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence and Loughnane four and a half years, both found guilty of conspiring to facilitate a breach of UK immigration law. Natalie Sirrell and Smyth received two-year suspended sentences, electronic monitoring, and a £500 fine each after pleading guilty to the same offense. The judge granted credit for early pleas and the delay in reaching court. Tokeley, who pleaded guilty earlier, will be sentenced separately at a later date.
Home Office Criminal and Financial Investigation Lead for the North East Command, Stuart Wilkinson said:
«Today’s sentencing is the result of strong collaboration between agencies to bring another people-smuggling ring to justice.
Our teams will continue to work tirelessly to secure our borders and clamp down on the gangs who heartlessly endanger vulnerable people to make money. I am enormously grateful for the tireless efforts of the officers involved in this case».