Doung's story

Doung is from Vietnam. He fell into debt when his mother needed treatment in hospital. To his horror the money lender was linked to criminal gangs and started to demand huge sums of interest which Doung couldn’t pay. The gang members then started to beat him and threaten his family. They told him he would have to work for them to pay off the debt and, if he refused, they would kill his family. Doung was taken across country with a group of people who were all forced to work at various places along the journey. To get to the UK they were put in a shipping container. Duong explains what happened next.

“After a while I felt the container being moved by a lorry. Whilst on that journey, there was very little air and I thought that we would die. After I don’t know how long, someone opened the back door and dragged me out.”

He was taken to a guarded house and locked in at night and driven to different places to do renovation work during the day. He said:

“We were told to work and follow orders. If we didn’t, we would be severely beaten. Each of us was given an old phone, so we could call or text the gang, if the police arrived. They said that if the police ever came, we had to run because if we were caught, we would be severely beaten and sentenced to life in prison.”

One evening after a long day at work, he made his escape when he noticed the guards had left the door open.
“I ran for miles and after running out of breath, I found a dark corner under a bridge and fell asleep. The next morning I got up and wandered the streets. Fortunately, I came across a fellow Vietnamese. It was only when he told me, that I discovered that I was in the UK.”

Duong is now receiving support in a safe house where he is being helped to rebuild his confidence and decide his next steps.