This is the story about a Vietnamese boy who was trafficked from his village in rural Vietnam to work as a slave on a cannabis farm in the UK.
When most people think about human trafficking and modern slavery, they immediately think about sex workers and of course, this is a huge problem but there are many, many more people who get trafficked around the world by organised criminals than the headline sex workers.
In this moving and no-holds barred long read from the BBC's Cat McShane, the whole journey is documented. This finely tuned, almost military style operation is would be almost admiral in its logistical merits if it were not for the human cargo that was being shipped around the world.
This evil exploitation of humans by other humans does not get the recognition it deserves. This evil trade needs to be stamped out and the perpetrators given harsh sentences. More often than not though, it is the victims who continue to be punished even after their 'freedom'. In the case of the young fella in this story, he is having issues with the home office allowing him to stay in the UK. He has settled here with foster parents since his liberation and is happy. He does not want to go back to the life on the streets he was living before in Vietnam.
Despite the deaths in October last year of 39 Vietnamese nationals who suffocated to death in the back of a lorry, very little progress seems to have been made. The story that shocked for a few hours is now long forgotten by most. I would suggest the death of a basketball player in a helicopter crash will have more far reaching tentacles of sympathy and will linger much longer in the news than these unknown people who were murdered so far from home, tricked by the promises of a better life.
I hope the driver of the lorry, who it appears to have known about his human cargo gets to spend the rest of his life trapped in a small, dark space, frightened and hungry.
Where is the new WIlliam Wilberforce and when will people evolve enough to develop worthwhile empathy and compassion instead of a constant need for personal gratification and 'abundance'.
Fucking tragic and what's almost worse is the rest of humanity's apathy.
