A 19-year-old South Sudanese asylum seeker has been sentenced to over two years in prison in Britain after admitting to steering a dangerously overcrowded dinghy across the English Channel. Chan Mathok Atak was convicted at Canterbury Crown Court under a law introduced in January 2026 targeting those who pilot boats carrying migrants in unsafe conditions; he had steered a 14-metre inflatable carrying 165 people — including dozens of minors — that had no navigation or first-aid equipment and was slowly taking on water before being intercepted. The case is part of a broader UK government crackdown on Channel crossings, which numbered in the tens of thousands annually, though authorities say the total so far in 2026 has fallen compared with the same period last year.