Two migrants jailed under new small boats law

Two migrants jailed under new small boats law7 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleSean SeddonandDominic Casciani,Home and Legal CorrespondentCPSMohammad Tajik (L) and Alnour Mohamed Ali (R) were jailed for piloting small boats across the ChannelTwo men have become the first to be jailed under a new law targeting people who risk the safety of others by piloting small boats across the Channel.Alnour Mohamed Ali, a Sudanese national, was given a 27-month sentence having previously admitted to steering an extremely crowded dinghy carrying 74 people in April.A second man, Afghan national Tajik Mohammed, was given a two-year sentence after pleading guilty to piloting a vessel across the Channel during poor weather conditions in January.Both admitted to endangering lives at sea under the new Border, Security, Asylum and Immigration Act, which came into force earlier this year.It makes causing or risking the death or serious injury of a person at sea in a small boat a crime, a law designed to target people in charge of vessels which have illegally carried more than 200,000 people to the UK since 2018.While the defendants were charged over separate incidents, they were sentenced together on Wednesday at Canterbury Crown Court due to the similarity of their offences.The court was played drone footage of both vessels the defendants admitted steering.In the case of Ali, 26, the boat was so full people could be seen clinging onto the edges, some with their legs dangling in the water. Many of those on board during the 9 April crossing were not wearing life jackets.CPSAli, circled in the image above, on board a small boat on 9 April French officials previously said two men and two women drowned off the coast of northern France while trying to get into the boat, but British prosecutors now accept he was not responsible for those deaths.At the time, French authorities said more than 40 people were rescued from the water at Equihen-Plage, near Boulogne-sur-Mer.Ali's b...