We owe it to Duc
Man made a slave in UK to be kicked out of Britain today
THE UK Government accept Duc Hguyen’s story – but that hasn’t stopped the Home Office from trying to deport him.
Duc ended up in Scotland after being forced to work on a cannabis farm.
He was jailed but now fears death if he’s sent back to face Vietnamese gangsters.
Since release from jail in England, he has volunteered in Cumbernauld, where community members have rallied round.
But he has built up a massive debt with the cruel traffickers in Vietnam who won’t let him escape their trap of slavery.
The Home Office should show some compassion. Duc is a victim, not a criminal.
THE treatment of a victim of modern slavery who faces deportation by the Home Office today has been branded “inhumane” by a charity worker.
Social inclusion officer Aileen Macdonald-Haak hit out over the case of Duc Nguyen, who has devoted himself to charity work in Scotland.
Aileen, of the Lambhill Stables charity in north Glasgow, who help deprived people, yesterday urged the Home Office not to deport Duc, saying: “He wasn’t a criminal, he was a trafficking victim and it’s inhumane to deport him.
“We’ve all grown to love him and he does so much for the community. We are devastated at the thought of him being thrown out of the country.”
Duc says he’s “heartbroken” and “terrified” he’ll be killed in his native Vietnam after he was forcibly removed from Glasgow last Monday.
The Home Office accepted Duc was a victim of trafficking last August after he served six months in jail for being forced to work on a cannabis farm.
He was released on bail in January last year and relocated to Cumbernauld, where he volunteered to pay back the community he grew to love.
But after the Home Office refused his appeal for asylum, he was taken to Dungavel immigration removal centre and is now in Colnbrook detention centre, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, where he awaits deportation today. Speaking from the centre, he begged Scots to back a campaign for him to stay. He said: “The people of Scotland have been so good to me. I hope they’ll help me. I’m so worried and heartbroken. Scotland is my home, please don’t let them deport me.”
Duc, 44, was trafficked to England where he was held captive, working 15 hours a day for no pay on a cannabis farm.
When he realised it was illegal, he was too scared to escape. He said: “There was nothing I could do, they were gangsters.
“I had to wake up after midnight to turn on and off the lights and to water the cannabis. I was trapped in a farm in a room with hardly any oxygen.”
After eight months, the farm was raided and Duc was sent to London’s Wandsworth jail. He said: “I had more freedom there.”
Duc has built up a huge debt with gangsters in Vietnam who exploited him. They refuse to reduce the sum regardless of the amount he works.
Gangsters threaten trafficking victims and their families with death if they escape. Green Party co-convener Patrick Harvie blasted the UK Government’s treatment of Duc as “disgusting”, adding: “He is a victim of a crime.”
The Home Office said: “We don’t routinely comment on individual cases.” ●TO SIGN the petition to stop Duc’s deportation go to www. change.org/p/caroline-nokesstop-the-deportation-oftrafficking-victim-d