Two Ukrainian men who ran a "premium bespoke taxi service" smuggling migrants into the UK aboard a yacht have been jailed.
Vladyslav Cherniavskyi, 38, received six years, and Oleksandr Yavtushenko, 43, five years, after both pleaded guilty at Portsmouth Crown Court to three charges of assisting unlawful immigration.
The yacht, Uforia, purchased by Cherniavskyi for 20,000 US dollars (£15,000) in April 2024 and sailed by Yavtushenko, was intercepted on 20 July 2025, four-and-a-half miles off Chichester, West Sussex. Following the operation by the National Crime Agency (NCA), Border Force, and French law enforcement, the vessel was escorted to Gosport Marina, Hampshire. Five migrants – four Albanian men and a Vietnamese woman – were then handed to immigration authorities, the NCA confirmed.
Robin Leach, prosecuting, said that the pair had carried out at least eight crossings and added: “Both defendants ferried migrants across the English Channel from northern France to the English coast, in particular to Itchenor in Chichester Harbour and they ferried the migrants across the Channel in a yacht called Uforia.
“It was established some of the migrants paid up to 15,000 euros – this was a premium bespoke service and any one trip would involve three to six migrants being taken across the Channel.”
Mr Leach said that the first count related to a crossing on August 10 2024 from Fecamp, near Le Havre, bringing six migrants to Itchenor where witnesses saw a “clumsy attempt to moor the boat” before the occupants walked to the village where they were met by someone.
The second charge relates to a crossing on June 15 2025 involving a couple and a child with the third count being the July 20 crossing.
Mr Leach said that three of the Albanians in this crossing are applying for asylum in the UK while the fourth was returned to his home country.
He added that the Vietnamese girl was “very young” and was currently in UK foster care.
Sentencing the pair, Judge William Ashworth said: “You were both part of an insidious black market draining families of money and perpetuating the misery of illegal immigration.
“Of particular concern in this case is that on one occasion you willingly transported a young Vietnamese female travelling alone who upon arrival into the UK was taken in to foster care meaning that she was a particularly vulnerable person and transporting her into the UK is a callous act.”
He added: “It was a premium service and you both accept you received significant amounts of money albeit you were not the organisers who, one would conclude, would take the lion’s share of the money.”
The judge said that the pair would likely be deported at the completion of their sentence.
Daniel Reilly, defending Cherniavskyi, said that he had left Ukraine prior to the war breaking out to earn money to pay for a bone marrow transplant and treatment for his mother who was diagnosed with leukaemia, as well as medication and treatment for his father who has a heart condition.
He said that Cherniavskyi first started working legally as a shop fitter in Spain before he bought the yacht and became involved in the smuggling operation.
Mr Reilly said that his mother had since died but his father still lived close to Kharkiv and the area affected by the war with Russia.
William Saunders, defending Yavtushenko, said that the qualified sailor had left Ukraine in 2015 and had worked as a builder and taxi driver in Poland before returning to sailing when he moved to Spain and Portugal.
He said: “He deeply regrets and apologises for getting involved.”
Tim Burton, CPS specialist prosecutor, said: “Cherniavskyi and Yavtushenko were effectively running an illegal migrant taxi service across the English Channel.
“Thanks to the National Crime Agency they were caught red handed and evidence shared by French authorities meant we were able to build an unanswerable case.”
Julian Harriman, NCA senior investigating officer, said: “These men ran what can only be described as a kind of ferry service, moving small numbers of people over the Channel each time, but charging them a premium price for the service.
“They stood to make tens of thousands of pounds for each trip but we were able to work with our French partners to stop this enterprise in its tracks
“Targeting people smugglers like this remains a priority for the NCA, and we’re doing all we can to disrupt and dismantle the gangs involved, wherever they operate.”
