Ukrainians who ran 'premium' migrant smuggling service to UK jailed | UK News | Sky News
Ukrainians who ran 'premium' migrant smuggling service to UK jailed
Oleksandr Yavtushenko, 43, and Vladyslav Cherniavskyi, 38, were given five and six years respectively. They charged up to 15,000 euros a head.
Thursday 12 March 2026 17:47, UK
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The yacht used for the cross Channel smuggling was found with five migrants on board. Pic: CPS/PA Two Ukrainian men who ran a "premium bespoke taxi service" smuggling migrants across the channel in a yacht have been jailed. Vladyslav Cherniavskyi, 38, was jailed for six years and Oleksandr Yavtushenko, 43, for five having previously pleaded guilty at Portsmouth Crown Court to three charges of assisting unlawful immigration. The pair were arrested after the yacht, Uforia, was intercepted four-and-a-half miles off the coast of Chichester, West Sussex, on 20 July last year, with five migrants onboard. The migrants, four Albanian males and a "very young" Vietnamese female, were handed over to the immigration authorities, according to the National Crime Agency.
Published: March 12, 2026 5:49 pm
Source: Sky News — Read original