Teenager charged with people-smuggling offence after four died while crossing Channel
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A teenager has been charged with people-smuggling after four people died while attempting to cross the Channel.
Ibrahima Bah, 19, of no fixed address, was arrested by police after the incident on Wednesday.
Four people died and 39 were rescued when a migrant boat capsized in the Channel.
A statement from Kent Police said: “The Crown Prosecution Service has authorised a charge against Ibrahima Bah of knowingly facilitating the attempted arrival in the United Kingdom of people he knew or had reasonable cause to believe were asylum seekers.
“The 19-year-old, of no fixed address, was remanded in custody and will appear before Folkestone Magistrates’ Court on Monday December 19.”
The Royal Navy, French navy, Coastguard and RNLI lifeboats were all involved in the major rescue operation off the Kent coast that began in the early hours of Wednesday 14 December, following reports of a boat in distress.
The circumstances surrounding the deaths are being investigated by detectives from the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, assisted by the National Crime Agency.
Police are still working to establish the identity of those who died and locate their next of kin.
More than 44,000 people have made the dangerous crossing across the English Channel so far this year, government figures show.
