
INVESTIGATION: Meet the smuggling kingpins behind the deadly Channel crossings
From The Story
Published 4/13/2026

From The Story
Published 4/13/2026
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…