Migrants jailed and charged after bank holiday crossings

PA Media

A number of migrants who crossed the English Channel over the bank holiday weekend have been charged with illegal immigration offences, with some jailed.

Three people – from Turkey, Algeria and Albania – were prosecuted for arriving in the UK without entry clearance, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

Osman Yesil, 47, Tawfiq Boubazine, 33, and Elidjon Cota, 29, pleaded guilty at Folkestone Magistrates’ Court in Kent and were sentenced to eight months in prison.

Three more people – two from Sudan and one from Iran – were charged with endangering the lives of others during a sea crossing and were remanded in custody.

Jiechlat Buom, 25, Kueth Gatkuoth, 31, and Mehdi Najafi, 42, are to appear at Canterbury Crown Court in June for a plea hearing.

It comes after 989 migrants arrived in the UK on small boats between Friday and Monday amid sunny weather and calmer waters in the channel.

‘Lives at risk’

Charges were authorised “within hours” of prosecutors receiving evidence from law enforcement agencies, the CPS said.

Sarah Dineley, from the CPS, said that the alleged boat pilots had been charged with endangering the lives of others.

She added that the CPS was continuing to work with international partners to “disrupt and dismantle organised crime groups, who are ultimately responsible for small boat crossings”.

Reuters

The number of migrants crossing the Channel each year peaked in 2022, when more than 45,000 made the journey.

A total of 8,565 people have made the journey so far in 2026 – 37% lower than at the same point last year.

The Home Office said that it was “bearing down” on small boat crossings, highlighting a new £662m deal between the UK and France, which it said will boost “enforcement action on beaches and put people smugglers behind bars”.

Drones, two helicopters and a camera system will be deployed in France as part of the deal.

It also involves sending riot-trained police to French beaches.

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Crown Prosecution Service