Sold into slavery at age of six, the Vietnamese boy freed after he was arrested on a hash farm in Lanarkshire

It comes after police said yesterday that a 16-year-old was smuggled to Scotland through Russia and then used by a crime gang possibly in a cannabis farm

www.dailyrecord.co.uk, February 2, 2017

A Vietnamese human trafficking victim forced to work in a Scottish cannabis farm has given a searing insight into the hell of being enslaved.

He was one of an estimated 3000 Vietnamese children in forced labour in the UK, a number of which end up in nail bars and illegal cannabis farms across Scotland.

Yesterday, it emerged that a Vietnamese teenager had been found cowering in bushes in Dumbarton after fleeing human traffickers.

The 16-year-old had been smuggled through Russia to Scotland, where police believe he was to be used by a crime gang, possibly in a cannabis farm.

Like many trafficked children, Dinh was reared in slavery and told by his captors he would die if he escaped.

He said: “They told me if I were to be captured by the police, the police would imprison me in dark rooms and give me very little food. And the room would be very cold and over time I might die from starvation.”

His earliest memory of Vietnam is a vague recollection of hugging a woman, possibly his mother, in his home village before being taken by a man he calls his uncle and trafficked to Europe.

Dinh said: “We arrived at a place where there was snow and white people. Later, I knew it was Europe.”

Like most smuggled children, he didn’t even know which country he was in.

They were picked up at the airport and joined a group of other Vietnamese who were being smuggled.

They were taken to a different house each day where, despite being only a small child, he was used as a household slave.

Sometimes they slept rough in forests and covered great distances, climbing mountains and hiding in lorries.

He said: “Once, when I was walking too slowly because I was too small and weak, someone pointed a gun at me and made me fall off the mountain.

“I broke my leg and someone took care of my wound. I was taken to a doctor to get treated.”

When his leg healed, his nomadic life resumed and he often saw a number of other children who told him they were being forced to work to pay off the debt to the smugglers.

He said: “I had to do chores such as cooking, carrying buckets of water or finding firewood to keep us warm.

“I was made by adults to go into shops to steal food or anything that they wanted.”

Dinh was taken by lorry to the UK when he was 10 and imprisoned in a house in London, used by a trafficking ring.

It was seven months before he was allowed outside in an escorted visit to a park. He remembers feeling a mixture of joy and fear that he would be picked up by police.

He felt a combination of joy and fear about being picked up by the police (stock photo)

Being raised in this captivity, Dinh believed it was normal that he should have to work for food and shelter with no access to play or an education. After being abandoned by his uncle, he was smuggled to France to search for him.

Although he was brutal, he was the only “family” Dinh knew.

In his search, he was picked up by a Vietnamese man called Phat who promised to help if he worked as his household servant for a year in the UK.

But when there was no sign of his uncle, Dinh escaped and was forced to sleep rough in parks and public toilets, scavenging bins for food. Some

Vietnamese gave him the odd night of shelter but he was often forced to sleep in the cold.

Then he met a Vietnamese couple who told him that, in exchange for housework, they would help him find his uncle.

They gave him to a friend, who again filled his head with the empty promise of help. The man took Dinh to a house in England to grow illegal cannabis he was told was medicinal.

After a few months, he was moved to another cannabis farm in South Lanarkshire.

Dinh said: “During that time, they said I should not go out because the police would arrest me.

“They said they were valuable medical plants so if other people knew about them, they would try to steal them.”

His masters would call him and give him orders and he slept in the corner of the living room on the floor.

His job was to mix plant food to water the plants, trimming off the leaves or installing the electrical wiring.

One morning at 7am, the house was raided and a terrified Dinh was arrested and taken to the police station.

He had no idea what crime he had committed.

Dinh said: “I didn’t know they were cannabis plants until I was in prison.”

Although he was a victim and not a criminal, he was sent to Polmont Young Offenders for nine months. This was perhaps the worst period of all.

He said: “I was staying in one cell all the time. I was really irritated all the time and felt like I was going crazy. I didn’t understand anything about the legal system.

“I felt very angry and sometimes I wondered why I was being kept in prison with criminals and murderers, if I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Fortunately, he was helped by Scottish charity The Aberlour Childcare Trust.

He was given an advocate from their guardianship service, who work with children and young people who arrive in Scotland unaccompanied and separated from their families.

Through the charity, he was recognised as a victim and released.

He said: “I hope to raise awareness that young people like me didn’t do illegal things on purpose. We are not criminals.”

In Scotland, the Lord Advocate has since insisted that children like Dinh should be helped, not placed in jail.

In England, many like him are still imprisoned.

Aberlour have been an enormous support to Dinh and he now attends college and describes himself as happy.

He said: “Only now am I aware of how terrible it was what happened to me at a very young age.

“Before getting out of prison and having a new life, I thought it was normal. I gradually realised it really was the life of a slave.”