Foreign
PRITI Patel, British Home Secretary, according to reports published on Monday, has said that people smugglers should be jailed for life.
The average length of imprisonment for the offense is three years with the maximum sentence being 14 years, but Patel wants to upgrade the maximum term to life, according to the British newspaper, The Times.
A government source reportedly told the newspaper there were no plans for a minimum mandatory sentence, but added “If you put it up at the top end, the hope is those currently getting three or four years now will be significantly increased.’’
According to Home Office statistics, 14,773 people were placed in immigration detention where they are detained while they wait for permission to enter Britain or before they are deported in 2020.
They added that, while the figures were partly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a general downward trend since 2015 of the number of people entering detention in Britain.
In that year, it peaked at more than 32,000.
Iranians made up the greatest group in detention in 2020, followed by Albanians.
Most nationalities saw a drop in the number of people being detained, but the number of Eritreans, Sudanese, and Syrians increased.(dpa/NAN)
-March 01 2021 @ 14:10 PM
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