Small boat pilot who made English Channel crossing jailed for three years

Ashari Mohamed, 28, drove the vessel hosting Sudanese, Iraqi, Syrian and Albanian nationals and eight children.
The pilot of a small boat crossing the English Channel with 37 people on board has been jailed for three years (Home Office/PA)
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

The pilot of a small boat crossing the English Channel with 37 people on board has been jailed for three years.

Ashari Mohamed, 28, drove the vessel, which hosted Sudanese, Iraqi, Syrian and Albanian nationals and eight children and was intercepted by the Border Force on July 10 2022.

The Sudanese national allegedly told a contractor he was paid 600 euros (£517.89) to pilot the boat due to having previous experience.

After his arrest, Mohamed denied being paid and instead claimed he told smugglers he had no money to cross but agreed to drive the boat for free due to his experience.

Mohamed previously pleaded guilty to facilitating and arriving in the UK without valid entry and got an eight-month prison sentence for entering the country illegally.

This will be served concurrently to the three-year sentence handed down at Canterbury Crown Court on Wednesday.

The conviction follows a Home Office investigation.

Immigration minister Robert Jenrick said: “We are working night and day to stop the boats and dismantle the people-smuggling networks behind them.

“This sentence, reinforced by the tougher measures in the Nationality and Borders Act, shows we are taking action against the pilots who put lives at risk by making these dangerous and illegal crossings possible.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in