A teenager from South Sudan has been jailed for more than two years after piloting a mega-dingy across the English Channel carrying 165 asylum seekers.
Chan Atak, 19, from South Sudan, was jailed for two years and three months’ at Canterbury Crown Court on Friday for endangering others during the crossing which lasted nearly 24 hours.
Atak risks being deported back to South Sudan due to his sentence.
The migrant vessel contained the largest number of passengers on a boat for a Channel crossing when it was intercepted last July.
That record was broken in August by a mega-dinghy carrying 230 migrants.
The dinghy had two outboard engines but one was not functioning, while tubing on the boat had started to deflate, the court heard.
Aerial footage shows one person “constantly pumping” to try to re-inflate the rigid-hulled inflatable boat.
Atak was also picked up on aerial footage operating the boat for 90 minutes wearing a black jacket with an “Italia” logo.
But then Atak crouched down among other passengers and took off his jacket “to avoid detection as the helmsman”, prosecutor James Harrison said.
Sentencing him, Judge Sarah Counsell said Atak played an “important role” in controlling and navigating the vessel, and it was not “fleeting or incidental involvement”.
“Crossings of this nature are inherently dangerous,” she said.
“Small inflatable vessels of the type commonly used for these crossings are not designed for offshore sea voyages.
“Those who choose to steer such vessels assume responsibility for the safety of those on board.”
The judge also noted that as well as engine issues, the vessel did not have navigation, emergency signalling equipment or firefighting equipment while fuel containers and batteries were “stored together creating a risk of fire”.
But she added there was no evidence he organised the crossing or that he stood to make money from it.
The court heard Atak had told police officers he paid 200 euros to a gang for the crossing.
Atak pleaded guilty to the single offence in August at the same court.
The teenager, aided by an Arabic interpreter, wore a t-shirt and a large white rosary around his neck at the hearing on Friday.
Defending him, barrister Audrey Mogan urged the court to take into account his young age, having turned 19 the month before the crossing took place.
Ms Mogan described Atak has someone who has “escaped the horrors of South Sudan”, where he saw militia set fire to a neighbourhood, people shot and their throats slashed.
He escaped from there to Libya, where the situation for young asylum seekers are “dire”, she said, and he was beaten and particularly focused on because of his Christianity.
“It’s from there he escaped to Italy and then to France,” she said.
She told the judge: “He wants me to tell this to your honour, he came here to seek sanctuary and safety, that is of course what asylum seekers are doing, to build a new life and to leave the dire circumstances where they come from, seek protection.”
NCA Senior Investigating Officer John Turner said: “Chan Atak was unimaginably reckless and his actions could have easily resulted in many deaths had this boat not been intercepted.
“Not only did he place the lives of 165 migrants in severe peril, this flimsy vessel was entirely unsuitable for crossing one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
“Combating the threat posed by the networks involved in organised immigration crime is one of our biggest priorities, and we currently have more than 100 investigations ongoing.”
Andrew Stephens, a Senior District Prosecutor from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Chan Atak took control of the boat and put the lives of 165 people, including children, at risk.
“This was an incredibly dangerous journey aboard an overcrowded, poor-quality inflatable boat without basic safety equipment crossing one of the busiest waterways in the world.
“The occupants were cold, wet, and crowded into a boat for a journey of more than 23 hours by Chan Atak who had no experience piloting a boat. The boat was poorly inflated, missing safety ropes and life jackets were ill-suited to the conditions.
“Those sentenced to more than a year in prison face being deported and if they make an asylum application their conviction will be taken into account.
”The NCA is putting more resource into targeting the criminal networks behind organised immigration crime than ever before. This is bringing operational results with increases in seizures, arrests and disruptions.”
