Two men to be sentenced for new offence of endangering lives in small boat crossings

Tajik Mohammad, a 32-year-old Afghan, became the first person convicted of a new offense criminalizing endangering lives by piloting an overcrowded dinghy across the English Channel in poor weather on 17 January. He pleaded guilty in Canterbury Crown Court in April to breaching the new law. Some passengers were not wearing life jackets, and Mohammad abandoned the dinghy and its occupants when a rescue vessel arrived; he subsequently reached the United Kingdom later the same day and was arrested. The Home Office has not released an image of Mohammad. He will be sentenced today.