A Vietnamese man claims that gangsters trafficked him to the UK and forced him to grow cannabis plants to pay off a gambling debt. [Image: Shutterstock.com]

A Vietnamese man has claimed during a trial in England that gangsters forced him to grow cannabis plants after racking up a significant gambling debt. Nam Nguyen is on trial for allegedly growing 272 plants in Abingdon, Oxfordshire.

claimed that the men threatened to kill him

Speaking through an interpreter, Nguyen broke down crying when revealing how the gangsters trafficked him to Leeds in 2020 to pay off the debt he racked up in the province of Nghe An. He said he was not aware that the work would involve watering cannabis plants. The 37-year-old claimed that the men threatened to kill him if he didn’t follow their orders.

Police arrested Nguyen after he was in the country for two months before releasing him after deeming him to be a victim of human trafficking. He claims that three years later, the same gangsters tracked him down and he had to once against water cannabis plants for them.  

The Crown Prosecution Service isn’t convinced by this explanation and believes that Nguyen concocted the story.