Two Ukrainian nationals are facing imprisonment after being caught attempting to smuggle migrants into the UK, following their yacht’s interception near the Isle of Wight.

Vladyslav Cherniavskyi, 37, and Oleksandr Yavtushenko, 43, orchestrated an unusual scheme that was thwarted by an extensive international operation. The authorities seized their boat in the English Channel and escorted it to Gosport Marina, close to Portsmouth.

The yacht, which embarked from northern France, was carrying five migrants onboard—four Albanian men and a Vietnamese woman.

A Border Force vessel guided the yacht into the marina, leading to the arrest of the two Ukrainian men on serious immigration charges. They were subsequently held in custody.

Without fixed addresses, the duo is set to be sentenced next month. This follows their appearance at Portsmouth Crown Court, where they admitted to three joint counts of facilitating illegal immigration.

The operation, conducted on July 20, was a collaborative effort involving the National Crime Agency (NCA), Border Force, and French law enforcement, effectively dismantling the smuggling attempt.

Pictured: The yacht used by the Ukrainian people smugglers to bring the illegal migrants into the UK

In another case of illegal migrants being smuggled using luxury vessels this year, 21 Albanians – 20 men and one woman – were found hidden below the deck in cramped and dangerous conditions

Four of the migrants – three Albanian males and one Vietnamese female – were handed to immigration authorities at the time.

The fifth passenger, Pellumb Selimi, 29, was arrested for failing to appear at court in connection with drugs offences.

Locals in the area witnessed the moment a sophisticated people-smuggling operation was thwarted by officials at Gosport’s Haslar Marina.

Richard Crosthwaite, 44, was enjoying a beer with friends in the popular Creek bar and restaurant which is attached to the marina.

‘We were just sat having a drink and we saw the NCA walking men with their hoods up and with handcuffs on along the walkway and out of the marina,” he told the Mail.

‘Then they brought the Vietnamese woman, she looked a bit shaken up and they were being gentle with her, she didn’t have handcuffs on.’

Richard, a boat engineer who lives on his vessel in the marina, added: ‘We just couldn’t believe it, honestly, I’ve never seen anything like that happen here before.

‘It’s a really quiet place.’

Another couple were heading along the walkway inside the marina towards their boat when they stepped directly past officers guiding two men.

‘It weirdly just seemed like a really normal thing for them, we barely paid any attention to it,’ said the female, who did not want to be named.

Her husband said in his 20 years living in the area he had never seen of or heard of such an incident.

As migration figures continue to surge it has caused some locals to worry that Gosport and Haslar Marinas may become a hotbed of migrant crossings.

Meanwhile, the closed Haslar Immigration Removal Centre is due to be reopened but no date has yet been set.

Phase one of the project is due to be completed this year, costing £101 million, and will see 130 bed spaces created in the refurbished accommodation, reduced from 198 when it was in service before 2015.

Linda Vine, 78, who lives opposite the marina, said she had heard increasing rumours of migrant crossings into the harbour in recent months.

‘I’ve heard there have been other occasions. I mean, it kind of makes sense, from a smuggler’s point of view – all sorts can be brought under cover of those boats,’ she said. 

‘It’s definitely a concern and we just hope we don’t become the new Dover. It’s all making everyone a bit nervous, to he honest.’

One worker from within Haslar Marina suggested July’s operation was not a stand alone episode.

‘Border Force typically don’t say too much to us, they’ll bring a boat in and say ‘we’re just going to leave this here’ and it will be berthed somewhere in the corner of the marina and we just don’t ask any questions about who, if anyone, was in there.’

NCA Senior Investigating Officer Julian Harriman said: ‘This operation was part of an ongoing NCA investigation led jointly with French judicial authorities and Gendarmerie Nationale, which has been supported by Border Force. 

‘Those arrested remain in custody.

‘Tackling people smuggling gangs remains a priority for both France and the United Kingdom and we are determined to do all we can to target, disrupt and dismantle the criminal networks involved.’

The number of illegal arrivals so far this year has hit more than 39,000 – more than throughout the whole of 2024 – 36,816 – and 2023, when 29,437 people crossed the border illegally.

The use of yachts has become a new tactic used by people smugglers to secretly bring illegal migrants into private marinas in the UK.

Britain’s Border Force are using extra surveillance to crack down on the method.

It comes after a people smuggler was jailed for seven years in July after being caught cramming 21 Albanians onto a luxury £70,000 yacht to cross the English Channel.

Bleda Bega, an Albanian national, was on the 23-foot Tacoma headed from Brest, in France, when it was intercepted by Border Force.

Gosport Marina, where the yacht carring five illegal migrants was intercepted and escorted to by a Border Force cutter

Border Force agents securing a yacht in the port of Dover last year in another example of luxury vessels being used for people smuggling

Border Force vessels patrol the Channel identifying any vessels, including yachts, involved with people smuggling. Pictured: A Border Force vessel arriving at the Marina in Dover, south-east England, in September

Hidden below the deck in cramped and dangerous conditions were 20 men and one woman.

The luxury vessel, which was headed for Newquay, Cornwall, was intercepted near Falmouth.

Albanians Florjand Lika, 30, and Romeo Zani, 32, had both paid to travel on board the hired yacht to sneak back into the UK after previously being deported.

They were each given 12 months in prison.

An ex-people smuggler told the BBC in May how he smuggled dozens of Vietnamese migrants to the UK through the use of yachts.

He would bring the yachts into private marines in seaside towns across the south east of England.

He told the BBC that smuggling migrants into the UK, whether that be via yacht or ferry, were ‘easy’ and ‘low risk’, and said he was speaking out because of his anger at being jailed for a crime that was so easy to commit.

A harbourmaster on the Essex coast told of how private marinas ‘have no more security than a caravan site’, while Charlie Eastaugh, Border Force’s director of maritime, said at the time that the security of marinas rest with private operators.