Siblings jailed for organizing illegal emigration to Canada

Nguyen Vuong Cuong, 40, received 36 months imprisonment and Nguyen Van Tai, 32, got 30 months, the Hanoi People’s Court announced Friday.

Their accomplice Nguyen Thi Nhan, 32, from the northern province of Phu Tho, received an 18-month suspended sentence for “coercing other persons to flee abroad.”

According to the indictment, in June 2021, Cuong and Tai used their Facebook accounts to post advertisements offering visa services and promising to send people abroad, which received response from Nhan and a woman only identified as T from the central province of Nghe An.

Tai learned that T and her husband wanted to work in Canada, but were ineligible for visas due to their age and financial status.

After discussing with Tai, Cuong advised the couple to get tourist visas to Canada, and then seize the opportunity to stay and work there, offering a price of US$15,000 per person for the trip to the country.

On January 14, 2022, the couple received their visas, and asked Cuong and Tai to seek a visa for their 19-year-old daughter.

As of April 9, 2022, Tai received a total of VND432 million (US$18,266) from T and her husband.

However, at the airport on April 9, 2022, the couple were not allowed to fly due to Covid-19 vaccine-related problems.

Meanwhile, Nhan used her Facebook account of “Hoang My” to contact Tai in December 2021, asking him to bring a man to Canada with a price of US$23,000, excluding air ticket fees, of which she kept US$8,000.