An ‘energetic’ pensioner has been arrested on suspicion of people smuggling after she allegedly sneaked illegal immigrants into Britain by pretending they were carers who she needed to push her wheelchair through passport control.
Lien Nguyen, 72, was born in Vietnam but was granted British citizenship several years ago.
Her alleged scam centered on her claiming to need a wheelchair to be pushed through the border between the UK and the Republic of Ireland.
UK Border Force staff are said to have waved her and a succession of bogus ‘carers’ through without checking their ID.
Nguyen is alleged to have made ‘numerous’ trips to the UK being pushed by various Vietnamese illegal immigrants, smuggling in a new one each time. Each ‘carer’ is said to have been given a British passport in exchange for a four or five-figure sum of money.
According to the Sun, Nguyen is suspected of meeting the illegal immigrants in Dublin, Ireland and then taking a ferry to Liverpool, north west England. She is also alleged to have been wheeled into Heathrow Airport, London on flights from Dublin.
A source told the paper: “The Border Force officers supposedly waved her and her helper straight through passport controls.”
Nguyen and her brother Bevan, 56, have been arrested on suspicion of facilitating the illegal entry of immigrants to the UK and bailed until May 24 when they will be told if they will be charged.
The paper, which also published photos of Nguyen out and about in public without any sign of a wheelchair, stated that the pensioner admitted she had been arrested and questioned but denied being a people smuggler.
The Home Office declined to comment.