50. Death Truck: What motivates people smugglers?

Bad People

BBC

True Crime

4.4 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 13 January 2022

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On the 27th of August 2015, a chicken truck is abandoned in Austria when smugglers realise the worst has happened. The tragedy shook Europe and lead to changes in immigration policy. In this episode of Bad People, Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen discuss the difference between human trafficking and people smuggling, the risk-reward ratio for the criminal networks involved, their estimated financial turnover, and why many people smugglers are both victims and perpetrators. The episode also dissects the decisions the driver of the truck, his accomplice and their immediate superiors made that day, and the distorted rationale behind it. Warning: This episode includes graphic descriptions, and mention of death, including the death of children. CREDITS Presenters: Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagen Producer: Simona Rata Music: Matt Chandler Editor: Rami Tzabar Academic Consultants for The Open University: Lara Frumkin and James Munro #BadPeople_BBC Commissioning Assistant Producer: Adam Eland Commissioning Executive: Dylan Haskins Bad People is produced in partnership with The Open University and is a BBC Audio Science Production for BBC Sounds.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I'd like to tell you why I love podcasting.
0:04.5	I'm Sasha Johansson, I'm an Assistant Commissioner for the BBC and I work on making podcasts.
0:11.1	My real passion is discovering unbelievable on her stories and working with the biggest
0:16.9	stars who can really bring those stories to life.
0:20.1	I love the whole process of making podcasts from the spark of an idea to hearing the final
0:26.0	edit.
0:27.0	There's nothing like it.
0:28.0	What makes BBC podcast special is that we're working for you, so whatever we commission
0:32.6	has to reflect the things that you care about and love, wherever you are in the UK.
0:37.0	So if you like this BBC podcast, there's so much more to discover.
0:40.6	Have a listen on BBC Sounds.
0:42.1	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:47.6	If you had done something very bad and were faced with the difficult choice of either handing
0:53.2	yourself over to the police and going to prison for the rest of your life, in the process
0:57.4	saving dozens of people's lives, or staying free, but leaving those same people to die,
1:04.6	what would you choose?
1:05.6	So it's your freedom versus saving the lives of strangers.
1:08.9	So either save myself from prison, but have tons of people dying in the process, or save
1:14.8	all the same people but go to prison for it.
1:18.1	What an oddly specific question, Julia.
1:21.8	I think I've got to prison, right?
1:25.4	I think, no, I think so.
	...

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