The city of Ranya– a small town in Northern Iraq– is more than 2,500 miles from Calais and Dunkirk. But it has a near monopoly on the people smuggling gangs that traffic migrants across the English Channel. The Times visited Ranya to meet the kingpins and ask: how did one village become responsible for Britain’s small boats crisis?

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Guest: Shayma Bakht, reporter, The Times.

Host: Luke Jones.

Producer: Micaela Arneson.

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Read more: I met the smuggling kingpins behind the deadly Channel crossings

Further listening: ‘Repugnant’ or necessary? The new asylum rules

Clips: Getty Images, DRM News.

Photo: Times Media Ltd.

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INVESTIGATION: Meet the smuggling kingpins behind the deadly Channel crossings

The Story