Short Sentence for Piloting Illegal Migrants Across Channel

Iranian military veteran Fariboz Rakei has received a short prison sentence for leading a boatload of migrants, including a seven-year-old child, on a perilous journey across the English Channel.

The 49-year-old is one of ten people who have been convicted for offences related to people-smuggling migrants in the Channel so far this year, and has received the longest sentence yet — of just four-and-a-half years.

This is despite the fact he is a so-called “boomerang migrant”, having already been deported from Britain to Germany as recently as 2019 following a previous illegal channel crossing, according to KentOnline.

Criminals in England who receive non-“life” sentences are almost always automatically released early on licence halfway or, more rarely, two-thirds of the way through their terms, too, so the headline figure of four-and-a-half years is not likely to reflect the amount of time he Rakei will actually serve in prison.

So far this year, Boris Johnson’s government has failed to deport a single illegal boat migrant, despite repeated promises that robust action would finally be taken with the end of the EU “transition” period at the beginning of 2021.