HANOI, Oct. 31 -- Police of Vietnam's central Ha Tinh province have filed charges against criminal activities of organizing, brokering illegal immigration and residence in foreign countries following reports of local families seeking for their missing relatives in Britain.

So far, 10 families in the province, including eight from Can Loc district, one from Nghi Xuan district and another from Hong Linh Township, have reported losing contact with their relatives on the way to Britain after the Essex lorry incident, the provincial police said in an announcement published Thursday on their website.

Competent authorities have collected DNA samples from members of those families to send to Britain for victim identification, the statement said, adding that provincial police are further investigating the case.

On Thursday, police of Vietnam's central Thua Thien Hue province also pressed criminal charges and instituted legal proceedings against three Vietnamese individuals for organizing and brokering illegal immigration, Vietnam News Agency reported.

A resident from the province was duped into paying the trio over 36,000 U.S. dollars to immigrate to the United States.

Earlier on Oct. 26, police of central Nghe An province filed the same charges against four people, who between 2024 and 2024 received hundreds of thousands U.S. dollars from more than 400 people without sending anyone abroad, local online newspaper VnExpress cited Nghe An police.