A Sudanese teenager managed to smuggle himself and 58 other illegal migrants into the United Kingdom via a small boat across the English Channel after he watched multiple instructive TikTok videos, despite the British government having pressured the CCP-owned social media company to suppress such illicit content.
Abdul Basset Ahmed, 18, told the police he was in control of the boat throughout the journey until it was intercepted by Border Force, for which he was given a €600 discount.
Ahmed, who was quickly apprehended and brought before the Canterbury Magistrate’s Court, claimed that he “did not know it was illegal to pilot a boat but he knew he was entering the UK illegally on August 14th 2023.
The court also heard that the 18-year-old left Sudan for Tunisia before traveling through multiple “safe countries” before reaching the Northern French coast from which he crossed illegally into the UK.
TikTok agreed to an initiative introduced by the British government in cooperation with the National Crime Agency to remove videos encouraging illegal migration just eight days before Ahmed embarked. Some of the videos circulating promote multiple illegal routes into Britain by way of inflatable boat, lorry, or plane, and offer discounts, and forged documents.
The teenager has since been sentenced to two years imprisonment – though not deportation – for his actions. Indeed, 44 of 59 people who illegally landed last month, including Ahmed, have applied for asylum.
