FLASH
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Two Ukrainians are facing prison in the United Kingdom, accused of smuggling migrants via a yacht.
The yacht of two Ukrainians was stopped off the coast of the Isle of Wight. Four Albanians and a Vietnamese woman were found on the yacht.
The Ukrainians have been identified as Vladyslav Cherniavskyi, 37, and Oleksandr Yavtushenko, 43.
The two Ukrainians were arrested for serious immigration offenses and remanded in custody.
They will be sentenced next month after appearing at Portsmouth Crown Court this week and pleading guilty to three joint charges of facilitating illegal immigration.
In another case of illegal immigrant smuggling using luxury ships this year, 21 Albanians, 20 men and one woman, were found hiding below deck in cramped and dangerous conditions.
Four of the migrants, three Albanian men and one Vietnamese woman, surrendered to immigration authorities at the time.
The fifth passenger, Pëllumb Selimi, 29, was arrested for failure to appear in court in connection with drug-related offenses.
Local residents of the area witnessed the moment a sophisticated people smuggling operation was thwarted by officials at Gosport's Haslar Marina.
Richard Crosthèaite, 44, was enjoying a beer with friends at the popular Creek bar-restaurant, which is adjacent to the marina.
"We were just sitting having a drink and we saw members of the NCA escorting some people in handcuffs along the path and out of the marina," he told the Mail.
Then they brought in the Vietnamese woman, she looked a little shaken and they were treating her gently, she wasn't in handcuffs.
NCA Senior Investigating Officer Julian Harriman said that “this operation was part of an ongoing NCA investigation led jointly with the French judicial authorities and the National Gendarmerie, which has been supported by the Border Force.”
"Fighting people smuggling gangs remains a priority for both France and the UK and we are determined to do everything we can to target, disrupt and dismantle the criminal networks involved," he said.
The use of yachts has become a new tactic used by people smugglers to secretly bring illegal migrants into the UK.
Britain's Border Force is using additional surveillance to crack down on this method.
This comes after a people smuggler was jailed for seven years in July after being caught transporting 21 Albanians on a luxury yacht across the English Channel.
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