Two more small boat pilots jailed for Channel crossings

Two men who piloted overcrowded small boats have been jailed for endangering others while crossing the Channel.

Omar Heidari, a 34-year-old Afghan national who steered a dinghy carrying 95 people to the UK in June, has been jailed for two years.

Manas Yuk, an 18-year-old Sudanese national, was sentenced to 18 months in youth detention after piloting a boat carrying 81 people – including a number of children – just days prior.

The men were sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court on Friday having earlier pleaded guilty to endangerment.

It means 10 people have now been sentenced under a law targeting those who risk the safety of others by piloting small boats since it came into force in January.

The Home Office said Heidari had endangered the largest number of lives of anyone so far sentenced for the offence.

The boat was overcrowded during the crossing on 23 June, with some passengers hanging their legs over the sides of the vessel, it said. A number of the passengers were not wearing life jackets.

He was jailed for endangering others as well as arriving in the UK without valid entry clearance.

Meanwhile, 13 children were aboard the overcrowded dinghy piloted by Yuk two days earlier – some of whom were not wearing life jackets.

The Home Office said Yuk attempted to hide his identity after Border Security Command approached the vessel, but was identified using drone footage of the crossing and later arrested.

Home Office minister Anna Turley said the sentences showed the government was “going further than ever before to crackdown the criminal smuggling gangs”.

“If you risk the lives of others by bringing illegal migrants to British shores on dangerous small boats, you will face justice.”