Police in Vietnam's Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province are investigating a gang smuggle people to Australia after busting an operation Sunday night.

They checked a fishing boat captained by Nguyen Ngoc Loi, 52, at around 8 p.m. when it was anchored along a local beach, and discovered 10 people sleeping aboard, including 46-year-old Nguyen Van Kinh from the north-central province of Nghe An.

Kinh confessed that he and a person named Tuong had received US$11,000-14,000 from each of 25 people to take them to Australia.

They had used part of the money to buy the boat and paid Loi VND250 million ($12,000).

Police arrested the three men as well as their 25 customers later on shore, and seized the boat.