People smuggler’s brazen selfie as he sails Ukrainians to UK

HEADING across the Channel towards Britain with the Red Ensign fluttering behind him, Dmytro Kruik poses for a selfie on board a yacht.

With him on board is fellow criminal Vladyslav Kurtoglu and six Ukrainian illegal immigrants.

Little do they know they will soon be stopped by a UK Border Force patrol vessel.

Kurtoglu owned and skippered the vessel, while Kruik acted as his deck hand.

The men sailed from Normandy in France towards the south coast on May 20 last year.

Officers escorted their yacht, the Tazik, to Hayling Island, where they discovered the six men below deck.

When the pair were interviewed, Kruik, 29, claimed they were not smuggling illegal immigrants, but had just been on a sailing trip.

However, when officials checked his phone they found the selfie and a reconnaissance video from the harbour in Barneville-Carteret, France, where the immigrants boarded the boat. The video was filmed on April 21 and Kruik could be heard commenting approvingly on the lack of security cameras.

Kurtoglu told Portsmouth Crown Court he had just bought the yacht and was going to hold his 50th birthday party on it.

He said he intended to hire the Ukrainians as crew for the event and was testing their sea legs.

But he claimed that a fierce storm blew in and the panicking passengers turned on him.

Kurtoglu said they threatened to throw him overboard if he did not sail straight to the UK.

Kruik admitted one count of assisting unlawful immigration, while Kurtoglu, who denied the same charge, was convicted.

The will be sentenced on February 21. The judge also ordered the forfeiture of the yacht, which will now be sold and the proceeds returned to the public purse. The six men have been removed from the UK.