Two small boat pilots jailed after endangering dozens of lives in record-breaking crossing

Two small boat pilots have been jailed after they endangered dozens of lives in a record-breaking crossing.

Omar Heidari, an Afghan national, steered a dinghy carrying 95 people to British shores last month.

At Canterbury Crown Court, the 34-year-old was jailed for two years.

Meanwhile, Manas Yuk, an 18-year-old Sudanese national, was handed 18 months in youth detention after he piloted a boat carrying 81 people, including children, just a few days beforehand on June 21.

Those on board the severely over-crowded boat included 13 children, some of whom were not wearing life jackets.

Shocking aerial drone footage, shared by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) showed the migrants tightly packed on the dinghy, with some perched on the edge.

When officials from the Border Security Command approached Yuk, the criminal tried to ditch his jacket in a desperate bid to conceal his identity.

Heidari took 95 other migrants on the illegal journey on June 23. Just like Yuk's the boat was massively overcrowded.

Again, the lack of lifejackets meant the risk to life was much higher than normal.

Heidari endangered the largest number of lives of any pilot sentenced under the offence, which was created in January, so far.

The crime was outlawed under the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act, making it illegal to put lives at risk through Channel crossings.

The offence carries a maximum sentence of up to six years in prison.

The Afghan was also jailed for arriving in the UK without a valid entry clearance. Both were sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court after pleading guilty to endangerment.

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Their sentencing today means that 10 people have been sentenced under the new law which can imprison those who risk others' safety by piloting small boats.

Home Office minister, Anna Turley, said: "Two more small boat pilots have been sentenced in a single day. That means 10 pilots locked behind bars under the new endangerment offence in less than two months.

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

"These sentences, alongside a 74 per cent surge in arrests for organised immigration crime, show that we are going further than ever before to crackdown the criminal smuggling gangs."

Since 2022, small boat crossings have become the most popular method to enter Britain illegally, although it is one of the most dangerous routes.

Yesterday, four migrants have died and more than half a dozen others injured in separate incidents in the English Channel.

Three women were pulled unconscious from one migrant boat that left a beach near Dunkirk after 3am on Thursday morning.

Another migrant, a man believed to be in his 30s, died when a so-called taxi boat got into difficulties near a beach south of Boulogne around midnight.

Six others, including a one-year-old baby, were rushed to hospital.