A SLEEK superyacht cuts through crystal-clear water, like something from a Bond movie, and you wonder which high-rollers might be living it up on board.
But this promo video, complete with dreamy music wafting on the air, is not for luxury holidays. Very far from it.
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The gang are offering a space on the yacht for £15,000 Credit: Tiktok
The man in charge of the yacht said they’d only take cash for passage to UK Credit: Unknown
Our reporter was told they had to wait in Belgium or the Netherlands for collection Credit: Supplied
The gang claim the passage will be “safe and comfortable” Credit: Supplied
Instead, The Jattvibe can today reveal a British-Albanian gang is busy smuggling hardened criminals across the Channel into the UK on such vessels — and many have previously served jail time here then been deported.
It arouses less suspicion than the countless rubber dinghies crossing daily from France, and yachts docking at small marinas can avoid the stricter checks at bigger ports.
Our investigation comes after we revealed last month how thousands of convicted migrants sent packing from our shores have since sneaked back.
Our reporter replied to the suspicious TikTok yacht ad and claimed to be an Albanian national who had served time in Wandsworth Prison in South West London before being deported.
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Once convinced our man was genuine, a gangmaster asked for a mobile phone number before the conversation moved to WhatsApp — with one of the gang using a UK phone number.
They then demanded £15,500 for a seat on a yacht leaving the Netherlands and docking near Dover.
The man on the line said: “I’ve got one seat on the boat today. A big yacht, a luxury one. We only take cash.” Offering a meet-up, he added: “We accept money just in Albania.”
We asked to see him on a video call before committing to the deal but, after agreeing, he then gave us just a brief wave before handing the phone to another gang member who promised a “relaxed and secure journey”.
Vladyslav Cherniavsky was jailed for six years for his role in the smuggling scheme Credit: PA
Oleksandr Yavtushenko helped run the ‘premium bespoke taxi service’ smuggling migrants into the UK onboard a yacht Credit: PA
The yacht used by Cherniavskyi and Yavtushenko was busted off Chichester, West Sussex, last summer Credit: PA
Migrants such as this boatload crossing the Channel last summer are far more likely to be detected than criminals paying for passage by yacht Credit: Getty
This man told our reporter he, too, was an ex-con, who had been deported after serving a year and ten months in Doncaster Prison for selling cocaine.
He said: “I have four people in the same situation as you who will be on this trip in a few days. Don’t worry about that. We have spent 50,000 euros to rent a yacht for this job.”
The smuggler confirmed the skippers would be Albanians and promised there would be no more than ten passengers on the yacht which, he said had “three luxury rooms.”
Asked if he had taken people to the UK recently, he replied: “Ten days ago, we successfully sent 11 boys. I’m sending you messages from four boys who have been in prison in the UK.”
He then sent a WhatsApp screenshot explaining that three of the four migrants had “problems in the UK” and were “scared of being deported again”.
Worryingly, he said one of the reporter’s family members had to meet him in a coffee shop and hand over the fee before he was allowed to board.
The gang said drivers would pick up the new arrivals from a port near Dover before taking them to London. He added: “Don’t be scared, OK?”
Border Force boat halts human-trafficking vessel in Channel in 2024 Credit: Refer to Caption
Reform’s shadow home secretary Zia Yusuf said the yachts why Britain has become a ‘national laughing stock’ on immigration Credit: Getty
It comes after An investigation by The Jattvibe last month found 4,614 people had re-entered Britain over the past five years after being deported. At least 723 were removed two or more times and the Home Office has admitted the figures could be higher because not everyone can be matched with previous ID checks.
Albanians accounted for more than a third of all cases, with 1,525 being found in Britain after being forced to leave.
Zia Yusuf, Reform UK’s spokesman for home affairs, told us yesterday that the case was an example of why Britain has become a “national laughing stock” on immigration.
He said: “While the British public struggles to afford the billions of pounds spent on illegal migration, the people smugglers mock us by flaunting their wealth right under our noses. The Tories turned Britain into a revolving door for illegal migration, and Labour refuses to fix it. No self-respecting nation fails to control its borders to such an extent. Reform UK would detain and deport every illegal migrant in the UK and ensure that they stay deported.”
But the TikTok gang we contacted are far from alone in their brazen trade, as yachts are increasingly being used to ship trouble into our country.
Five men were arrested in May after a yacht smuggling seven people into the UK was intercepted off the south of England.
Two crew members, one British man aged 42 and an Albanian aged 25 were held on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration. Another three were quizzed, suspected of being a shore party to meet passengers off the vessel.
We reported our findings to TikTok — who within an hour had taken down the account. They said the account breached community protection guidelines relating to human trafficking.
We will also pass on our file to the National Coastguard Authority.Meanwhile, official statistics show more than 11,000 migrants have crossed the Channel in small boats this year and the hot weather may lead to a surge due to calmer waters.
Albanians make up more than a third of re-entry cases to the UK (1,525), followed by Romanians (767), Afghans (281) Lithuanians (233) and Iraqis (150).
And latest figures reveal 1,099 of the 53,000 Albanian nationals living in the UK without citizenship have ended up in jail here, as many turn to crime to fund their lifestyle.
The Balkan country has so many young men in Britain that one town is virtually devoid of them.
Has, a three hour drive from capital city Tirana, has such close links with the UK that it declared a day of mourning when the late Queen Elizabeth died in 2022. The local mayor had a picture of her majesty in his town office.
The Jattvibe also reported how families in the small village of Golaj in northern Albania save up and pool cash to get young men on boats to Britain. We revealed, too, how two drug lord brothers who ran a massive drugs operation from a house in North London made so much money that they built a popular tourist attraction in Albania.
The multi-million-pound project was so ambitious that Solis Farm even had its own road infrastructure carved into a mountain.
The pair behind the enterprise were Hajdar Copja, 40, and brother Franc, 33, who ran a global drugs empire from a terraced house in Tottenham.
Franc spent his days glued to the phone, contacting drug traffickers in South America, before arranging payments to corrupt customs officers and port workers who helped smuggle millions of pounds into Britain, much of it hidden in trailers.
One of the most infamous Albanian cartels is the Hellbanianz, a gang of drug dealers based in the Gascoigne Estate in Barking, East London. They have had no qualms about showing off their luxury lives in fast cars while wearing designer gear and posing with guns.
They once shot a music video called Poppin Smoke, which showed them driving military vehicles with heavy machine guns through the estate.
While the gangs maintain an iron grip over much of the country’s cocaine supplies, its leaders are thought to have fled to Dubai where they have appeared on social media driving around in Rolls-Royce cars.
It is the sort of life that most Albanians can only dream off — and it seems many are now seeking to embark on that in style by arriving in Britain by yacht.
