Victim of trafficking tells of horror ordeal in tiny cell
A victim of modern slavery battling to remain in Scotland has branded the immigration detention centre where he was held “worse than prison”.
Duc Nguyen was trafficked from Vietnam to the UK in 2014 and forced to work on a cannabis farm after drug lords promised him a new life in Europe.
He served six months in Wandsworth Prison after a police raid on the London flat where he was held captive before being detained as an illegal immigrant. The 44-year- old, now living in Glasgow after being granted bail, has told how his greatest fear is being sent back to Harmondsworth detention centre in Heathrow, London.
He said: “Harmondsworth is the worst place that I have been made to live. I don’t ever want to have to go back there. I would have to spend most of the day locked in a cell.
“I was lucky to have a cell on my own because I don’t smoke, but lots of the immigrants had to share a room.
“They took my mobile phone from me and the staff were not friendly.
“When I was allowed out of the cell at dinner and lunchtime, I would just have to walk around in the foyer.
“There was a very smal l outdoor space, but it was always very crowded. I was in Wandsworth Prison in London for six months and Harmondsworth was much worse. In prison, you had space to move around. It wasn’t so crowded and everything was better organised.
“I have to wait for the outcome of my appeal, so I could be sent back to detention at any time and removed from the country.”
The former bus driver, from Hai Phong in Vietnam, is a charity volunteer at Glasgow’s Lambhill Stables community hub, where he works as a bike mechanic.
He said: “Living here has been the happiest I have been, but the Home Office refused my appeal for asylum last month and I was sent to Harmondsworth before being bailed again last week.
“I have no idea what is going to happen now, but I can only hope I am allowed to stay in Scotland”.
Harmondsworth is worst place I have been made to live