Police are looking into whether four Vietnamese immigrants who may have perished in a fire at a shuttered factory were actually trafficked.
After discovering human remains at the abandoned Bismarck House Mill in Oldham two months after a fire, authorities have declared a serious incident.
There has only been one body found thus far, but searches are still being conducted.
Local authorities reported the whereabouts of four Vietnamese nationals who they believe were involved in the fire.
Police are considering several avenues of inquiry, according to MailOnline, including the potential that they were the victims of human trafficking.
On May 7, a fire broke out, and it took four days to put out. At the moment, nobody was believed to be inside.
According to Rob Potts, assistant chief constable with the Greater Manchester Police, “Any criminal offences found throughout their investigation will be swiftly and appropriately progressed.”
‘It’s really concerning if the Vietnamese people were being kept in a mill like that,’ said Oldham councillor Aftab Hussain.
That there might have been any human trafficking involved does worry me. A thorough investigation is required.
“Anyone involved should be taken before the courts and punished if anything criminal is proved to have transpired,” the statement reads.
The only strange activity at the mill, according to locals, was cars parked outside the structure late at night.
Separately, packages of cannabis leaves that had been thrown nearby were discovered.
Howard Singleton, 37, claimed that soon before Christmas, a friend of his found the trash bags filled with cannabis plant debris in a skip at a local business centre, a few streets away from the mill.
My friend couldn’t believe it when he discovered the bags, he said. They had recently been thrown in the trash can.
Although there are automobiles parked nearby, I have never noticed any Vietnamese individuals arriving or departing.
People have been wondering what caused the fire because everything seemed a little odd.
Although there was a tile company right next to the mill, a neighbour claimed: “I used to see the automobiles at 7pm or later and they can’t have been heading to the tile shop.” Only now has it caused me to reflect on what was happening.
While efforts to determine the deceased’s identification are underway, Mr. Potts stated: “We are coordinating with partner agencies to ensure that prospective family members in Vietnam are adequately informed and supported.”
According to a police official, the Professional Standards Branch of the department had been tasked with reviewing the event.
Because the fire was “well-developed” and there was “some worry about the structural stability of the building,” according to the Greater Manchester Fire Service, its crews battled it from the outside.
Although there were no reports of anyone inside at the time, it meant that firefighters could not see what was inside.
It is currently examining the response to the incident.
The cause of the fire is yet unknown.
Vietnamese immigrants are known to be brought to the UK by people smugglers, where they are susceptible to modern slavery and are made to labour in industries like prostitution, nail bars, and cannabis manufacturing.
The Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, Dame Sara Thornton, highlighted in February the difficulties faced by Vietnamese migrants, including “exorbitant fees charged for each part of the journey, involvement of debt bondage, artificial inflation of fees and exploitative working conditions in both legal sectors and illegal activity, such as Cannabis cultivation.”
Nevertheless, she claimed that despite the dangers, including the 39 migrants who were discovered dead in a lorry in Grays, Essex, in 2019, “Vietnamese migrants regard the UK as an attractive destination.”
The victims and the bereaved are at the heart of our investigations into deaths, according to Rob Potts, assistant chief constable for the GMP.
As a result, we are coordinating with partner agencies to make sure that prospective family members in Vietnam are adequately informed and supported while efforts are being made to confirm the deceased’s identification.
It is obvious that both the local and larger community will be impacted by this news.
“I can reassure the public that this has been declared a major incident to ensure that GMP and partner agencies respond to this incident in the most effective way, and that specialised officers are following every line of enquiry to confirm the identity of the deceased, if anyone else was inside the mill during the fire, and the full circumstances surrounding that fire,” he said.
“Any criminal offences discovered during their investigation will be swiftly and properly advanced,” the statement reads.
Anyone with information is encouraged to use the GMP Major Incident Public Portal to share it.
Anyone who cannot access the internet should contact Operation Logan at 0161 856 0055.