Belgian court jails trafficking gang leader for Vietnamese truck deaths

Belgian police officers stand in a courtroom while a verdict is handed down in the Belgian trial of suspects accused of involvement in a human-trafficking ring, allegedly implicated in the death of 39 Vietnamese migrants on a truck bound for Britain in 2019, in Bruges, Belgium January 19, 2022. REUTERS/Clement Rossignol

BRUGES, Belgium (Reuters) - The Vietnamese head of a human trafficking gang was sentenced to 15 years in jail by a Belgian court on Wednesday for the manslaughter of 39 compatriots who suffocated in an airtight shipping container smuggled into Britain in 2019.

The court in Bruges also ordered Vo Van Hong, 45, to pay a 920,000 euro ($1.04 million) fine and gave prison terms of between 18 months and 10 years to 17 others for their roles in large-scale people smuggling from Vietnam to Britain.