Channel people smuggler jailed

A people smuggler has been jailed for bringing migrants across the Channel in tiny inflatable boats.

Sarbast Mohammed Hama, 31, of no fixed UK address, admitted assisting unlawful immigration at Lewes Crown Court and was jailed for three years and four months.

An investigation was launched into the Iraqi national when he was stopped in a dinghy packed with 13 migrants, including two children, by a Border Force cutter off Kent in March. Checks revealed he had previously been stopped on another inflatable boat on Christmas Day 2018, with ten Iraqi migrants.

Hama was arrested after the second stop.

Steve Whitton, from Border Force, said: “Hama was involved in reckless attempts to smuggle people, including young children, into the UK. The vessels were unfit to cross the channel.”