麻豆社

This series charts the rise of the smuggling networks and how they operate across the globe. 麻豆社 presenter Sue Mitchell and aid worker and former British soldier Rob Lawrie uncover the money that changes hands as migrants cross borders and expose some of those profiting from their desperation.

In programme one Rob Lawrie uses his network of contacts on the French camps to track down a gang leader who admits that he can make up to 拢100,000 a night from the Channel crossings. The smugger cautiously explains to Rob how things work, from the way that money changes hands and is laundered, through to the scenes that migrants face as they gather on the beaches waiting to make that journey from France to the UK.

This startling interview is given added tension because it takes place in a forest clearing as night sets in. Rob himself is searched before he is given access to the smuggler, who is guarded throughout by five armed men. Producer Sue Mitchell joins them by phone and both she and Rob tackle the smuggler over his role in the deaths of a family of five, who drowned when their boat sank just a few miles out from the French coast.

Produced by Sue Mitchell