1 00:00:01,600 --> 00:00:04,080 I'm on a journey around the Mediterranean. 2 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:12,760 It's the sea that attracts around a third of world tourism. 3 00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:19,440 The birthplace of civilisations... 4 00:00:19,440 --> 00:00:20,440 Just look at that! 5 00:00:22,760 --> 00:00:24,560 ..where extraordinary wealth... 6 00:00:24,560 --> 00:00:26,640 This one's got a helicopter on it. 7 00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:29,280 ..meets shocking poverty. 8 00:00:29,280 --> 00:00:32,280 I take my flipping hat off to them, I really do. 9 00:00:32,280 --> 00:00:34,520 Look at the scale of the destruction! 10 00:00:34,520 --> 00:00:36,800 They're on the edge of the Med. 11 00:00:38,200 --> 00:00:41,040 It's a sea of wild extremes. 12 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:42,680 Yes, yes, look! 13 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:50,040 The first leg of my journey takes me from Malta, 14 00:00:50,040 --> 00:00:53,240 along the coast of southern Italy, and on to Albania. 15 00:00:56,880 --> 00:00:59,320 In Italy's beautiful deep south... 16 00:00:59,320 --> 00:01:01,200 Italian wedding! 17 00:01:01,200 --> 00:01:04,080 ..I meet some of the Med's most ancient inhabitants. 18 00:01:04,080 --> 00:01:05,200 Oh! 19 00:01:05,200 --> 00:01:06,840 Look at the size of you! 20 00:01:12,840 --> 00:01:13,880 Ciao, amore! 21 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:18,440 I go on a mission with the elite team hunting 22 00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:20,640 Europe's most powerful Mafia... 23 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:22,680 I've never seen anything like this. 24 00:01:22,680 --> 00:01:26,360 ..and discover the dark heart of the Mediterranean. 25 00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:33,240 The value of the drugs in the convoy is anything up to £200 million. 26 00:01:56,400 --> 00:01:59,480 The Mediterranean, the very name means, 27 00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:01,360 "The centre of the world." 28 00:02:13,240 --> 00:02:18,160 Bounded by three continents - Europe, Africa and Asia - 29 00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:22,400 the Mediterranean has shaped so much of our history. 30 00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:31,000 I'm in a beautiful old fishing boat, and I'm about to start my journey 31 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:33,520 around the Mediterranean, here in Malta. 32 00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:40,400 It's gorgeous, look at it! 33 00:02:43,760 --> 00:02:47,440 For thousands of years, Malta has been at the absolute 34 00:02:47,440 --> 00:02:51,680 crossroads of history, of trade, of culture, 35 00:02:51,680 --> 00:02:55,120 forever critical, strategic and vital. 36 00:02:56,360 --> 00:02:59,920 More than 20 countries border the Mediterranean. 37 00:02:59,920 --> 00:03:03,680 I was starting my epic journey in the centre of the sea, 38 00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:05,880 in the smallest state in the European Union. 39 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:10,600 I headed to Malta's beautiful capital, Valletta. 40 00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:15,640 Look at this, what a position on this incredible natural harbour! 41 00:03:18,880 --> 00:03:22,720 I am so excited about being here! 42 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:23,760 First time! 43 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:28,160 I'd always wanted to visit Malta. 44 00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:30,040 The country has a spectacular history. 45 00:03:32,920 --> 00:03:37,960 These walls have seen endless conquest, invasion. 46 00:03:38,680 --> 00:03:43,680 In 1565, there was an epic battle here, where the Knights of Malta, 47 00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:51,120 in their grand fortifications, rebuffed an enormous Ottoman Turkish 48 00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:55,040 invasion force that, arguably, ultimately saved 49 00:03:55,040 --> 00:03:57,040 Southern and Western Europe. 50 00:04:04,040 --> 00:04:05,200 Jason, thank you, mate. 51 00:04:05,200 --> 00:04:06,200 No problem. 52 00:04:08,840 --> 00:04:09,880 Nearly! 53 00:04:09,880 --> 00:04:11,280 Give us a push! 54 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:12,400 Oh! 55 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:18,200 This is brilliant. This is a great way to arrive, come on! 56 00:04:21,600 --> 00:04:25,360 Modern-day Malta is booming, driven partly 57 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:27,560 by a huge surge in tourists. 58 00:04:31,160 --> 00:04:33,640 The population is less than half a million. 59 00:04:33,640 --> 00:04:36,080 Around five times that number of tourists comes here 60 00:04:36,080 --> 00:04:37,680 on holiday now every year. 61 00:04:42,200 --> 00:04:45,000 But soaring rents are pushing many Maltese out of the most 62 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:47,280 crowded tourist hotspots. 63 00:04:47,280 --> 00:04:49,880 Some worry tiny Malta is being overwhelmed. 64 00:04:49,880 --> 00:04:51,120 SCREAMING AND SHOUTING 65 00:05:04,320 --> 00:05:06,320 It's one thing to see a punch-up, isn't it? 66 00:05:06,320 --> 00:05:08,720 But that was sort of a mass brawl, 67 00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:12,040 involving 30 people spilling into the street. 68 00:05:13,480 --> 00:05:15,400 Completely bizarre. 69 00:05:15,400 --> 00:05:18,240 There are quite a few people here in Malta who are saying 70 00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:23,280 that this country is selling its soul to mass tourism, 71 00:05:24,440 --> 00:05:26,520 with all the attendant problems that come with it - 72 00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:27,880 like the drunkenness - 73 00:05:27,880 --> 00:05:31,360 but, much more seriously, it's selling its soul in terms 74 00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:36,240 of dodgy and corrupt business and finance, 75 00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:38,240 and organised crime. 76 00:05:53,080 --> 00:05:56,280 The wealth here is just unbelievable. 77 00:05:59,400 --> 00:06:02,600 Oh, bloody hell, this one, look, this one's got a helicopter on it. 78 00:06:05,840 --> 00:06:07,440 Flipping heck. 79 00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:11,480 As the economy grows rapidly, the source of some of Malta's riches 80 00:06:11,480 --> 00:06:13,960 is coming under increasing suspicion. 81 00:06:13,960 --> 00:06:15,800 I met up with Manuel Delia... 82 00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:17,240 Manuel. How are you? 83 00:06:17,240 --> 00:06:20,680 ..one of Malta's most outspoken campaigners. 84 00:06:20,680 --> 00:06:23,520 Where is all this money coming from? 85 00:06:23,520 --> 00:06:27,000 Well, we have less, lower taxes here, so people come 86 00:06:27,000 --> 00:06:28,600 and set up their companies here 87 00:06:28,600 --> 00:06:30,240 but when that is used to front 88 00:06:30,240 --> 00:06:33,520 for people to launder their money from crime, 89 00:06:33,520 --> 00:06:35,760 or from corruption, then it becomes a serious problem. 90 00:06:35,760 --> 00:06:40,800 So, your belief and allegation is that Malta is becoming a base 91 00:06:42,240 --> 00:06:44,480 for international money-laundering? 92 00:06:44,480 --> 00:06:45,640 Yes. 93 00:06:45,640 --> 00:06:48,320 Take our online gaming industry. 94 00:06:48,320 --> 00:06:51,600 The Italian Mafia was using it to launder their money. 95 00:06:51,600 --> 00:06:56,640 Malta is being used to launder the Mafia's money? 96 00:06:56,680 --> 00:06:58,840 Yes, yes, yes. 97 00:07:00,840 --> 00:07:04,240 The European Parliament and Europol, the law enforcement 98 00:07:04,240 --> 00:07:08,040 agency of the European Union, are among those expressing serious 99 00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:11,040 concern about money-laundering in Malta. 100 00:07:11,040 --> 00:07:14,560 Critics say Malta isn't doing nearly enough to investigate dodgy 101 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:18,600 companies and dirty money sloshing around on the island. 102 00:07:18,600 --> 00:07:22,240 Now we also make money by selling Maltese passports, 103 00:07:22,240 --> 00:07:23,400 one of these. 104 00:07:23,400 --> 00:07:26,360 It's a Maltese passport, but it's also a European Union passport, 105 00:07:26,360 --> 00:07:29,720 so we're basically selling European citizenship, 106 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:31,800 a million euro a pop. 107 00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:34,680 So, somebody can buy citizenship in Malta, 108 00:07:34,680 --> 00:07:36,760 and access the European Union, as well? 109 00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:38,320 So, they don't have to live here. 110 00:07:38,320 --> 00:07:41,920 No, they're supposed to, but what they do is they just rent garages. 111 00:07:41,920 --> 00:07:46,400 So, I found a garage where some four Russian billionaire tycoons 112 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:48,280 are supposed to be living inside. 113 00:07:48,280 --> 00:07:50,240 No way! Well, obviously they don't live there. 114 00:07:50,240 --> 00:07:53,520 No. They've never actually seen it, but they pay rent there, 115 00:07:53,520 --> 00:07:54,520 in order to get this. 116 00:07:57,000 --> 00:07:59,640 Malta's not alone in selling citizenship. 117 00:07:59,640 --> 00:08:02,080 Its government insists it carries out proper checks 118 00:08:02,080 --> 00:08:05,840 on its passport scheme, and the country's financial system. 119 00:08:07,160 --> 00:08:09,800 But there have been extraordinary allegations of corruption 120 00:08:09,800 --> 00:08:12,640 and criminality at the highest levels in Malta. 121 00:08:12,640 --> 00:08:14,520 Some even describe it as a Mafia state. 122 00:08:16,520 --> 00:08:20,200 Manuel's friend, journalist Daphne Galizia, was investigating 123 00:08:20,200 --> 00:08:22,760 the dirty money and corruption in Malta. 124 00:08:22,760 --> 00:08:24,400 It made her enemies. 125 00:08:24,400 --> 00:08:26,800 In 2017, they came for her. 126 00:08:28,640 --> 00:08:31,640 This is where she lived. 127 00:08:31,640 --> 00:08:33,960 It couldn't be a more, apart from the road, 128 00:08:33,960 --> 00:08:36,880 a more beautiful and peaceful setting, really, could it? 129 00:08:36,880 --> 00:08:39,200 She was at home, she worked from home, 130 00:08:39,200 --> 00:08:41,440 and she wrote her last blog at about half past two 131 00:08:41,440 --> 00:08:42,440 in the afternoon. 132 00:08:43,800 --> 00:08:46,360 So, it's almost three, and she tells her son, 133 00:08:46,360 --> 00:08:50,160 "Listen, I need to go to the bank," and she drives out. 134 00:08:50,160 --> 00:08:54,000 Where we are now is where the first explosion hits, 135 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:56,520 and it hits because someone from right across the valley 136 00:08:56,520 --> 00:09:00,880 communicated with his mate, who was out on a boat at sea. 137 00:09:00,880 --> 00:09:02,600 Out on the Mediterranean? 138 00:09:02,600 --> 00:09:06,560 That guy sent a message to a detonator, which was inside 139 00:09:06,560 --> 00:09:09,320 the car, and it exploded. 140 00:09:09,320 --> 00:09:12,920 Daphne's car transformed into a ball of fire, 141 00:09:12,920 --> 00:09:14,560 with her inside. 142 00:09:14,560 --> 00:09:15,600 My God. 143 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:25,880 Now it's no longer a car, now it's just a moving flame, 144 00:09:25,880 --> 00:09:29,600 and it's just crawling where we are now, over the first field, 145 00:09:29,600 --> 00:09:31,760 and into the second one. 146 00:09:31,760 --> 00:09:33,040 Oh, my goodness. 147 00:09:33,040 --> 00:09:34,040 Yes. 148 00:09:41,320 --> 00:09:44,600 The car stopped here, was consumed here. 149 00:09:44,600 --> 00:09:49,080 As you can see, there's this bald patch in the field here. 150 00:09:49,080 --> 00:09:50,120 Her final spot. 151 00:09:56,000 --> 00:09:58,480 Her son, he hears the explosion. 152 00:09:58,480 --> 00:10:00,880 Barefooted, he just runs to get here. 153 00:10:00,880 --> 00:10:02,120 Oh, my God. 154 00:10:02,120 --> 00:10:05,720 And he gets here, and the car is just billowing fire. 155 00:10:05,720 --> 00:10:07,080 But he knows... 156 00:10:07,080 --> 00:10:09,200 He knows there's nothing you can do. 157 00:10:12,800 --> 00:10:15,320 When did you hear what had happened? 158 00:10:15,320 --> 00:10:18,520 I got a call at three minutes past three. 159 00:10:18,520 --> 00:10:19,760 A friend of mine. 160 00:10:19,760 --> 00:10:22,920 He said, "I think they got Daphne." 161 00:10:22,920 --> 00:10:26,240 That's how clear it was when it happened. 162 00:10:26,240 --> 00:10:28,720 We knew she was in danger, she knew she was in danger. 163 00:10:31,520 --> 00:10:33,640 On the day Daphne was murdered, 164 00:10:33,640 --> 00:10:37,000 she wrote, "There are crooks everywhere you look now. 165 00:10:37,000 --> 00:10:38,640 "The situation is desperate." 166 00:10:41,000 --> 00:10:44,720 She kept holding up a mirror to people in power, 167 00:10:44,720 --> 00:10:47,000 people who are not used to having that done to them, 168 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:51,480 and those people, boy, they're glad she's not there any more. 169 00:10:51,480 --> 00:10:56,520 It's the 21st century and, on this spot, 170 00:10:58,400 --> 00:11:03,440 down that road, a journalist was blown up with a car bomb, 171 00:11:04,640 --> 00:11:06,720 and died in this field. 172 00:11:06,720 --> 00:11:10,360 It is an absolutely incredible event. 173 00:11:10,360 --> 00:11:15,040 It should shake the absolute pillars of society, here. 174 00:11:15,040 --> 00:11:17,680 It has a chilling effect, it conditions the way you work, 175 00:11:17,680 --> 00:11:19,520 the way you think about your own country. 176 00:11:19,520 --> 00:11:21,720 It's a country where a journalist can be killed, 177 00:11:21,720 --> 00:11:23,040 because it has happened. 178 00:11:25,400 --> 00:11:28,760 Three men are awaiting trial for Daphne Galizia's murder, 179 00:11:28,760 --> 00:11:32,280 but many people suspect whoever gave the orders remains at large. 180 00:11:35,320 --> 00:11:38,400 I have waited 20 years to come here. 181 00:11:38,400 --> 00:11:42,560 I've read about the glorious history of these islands, 182 00:11:42,560 --> 00:11:45,840 and really looked forward to starting the journey here, 183 00:11:45,840 --> 00:11:48,720 and I'm sorry to say there is something rotten 184 00:11:48,720 --> 00:11:49,800 in this country. 185 00:11:51,360 --> 00:11:54,200 These are dark times in Malta. 186 00:11:54,200 --> 00:11:57,920 There have actually been at least 19 bomb attacks in Malta 187 00:11:57,920 --> 00:12:01,000 in recent years, shocking in a country so associated 188 00:12:01,000 --> 00:12:03,400 with Mediterranean tourism. 189 00:12:03,400 --> 00:12:06,640 Yet still now, many in Malta remain in denial about the scale 190 00:12:06,640 --> 00:12:08,640 of corruption and crime on the islands. 191 00:12:11,520 --> 00:12:14,560 I continued my journey around the Mediterranean, 192 00:12:14,560 --> 00:12:16,240 travelling on to southern Italy. 193 00:12:22,600 --> 00:12:25,320 So, we're heading across the water to Calabria, 194 00:12:25,320 --> 00:12:28,760 which is the remote mountainous province that fills 195 00:12:28,760 --> 00:12:30,400 the toe of Italy. 196 00:12:33,720 --> 00:12:37,920 It's one of the great areas for ancient mythology. 197 00:12:37,920 --> 00:12:40,680 Hercules is said to have swum across here. 198 00:12:40,680 --> 00:12:43,360 The Argonauts sailed through here. 199 00:12:46,840 --> 00:12:49,480 It's interesting to see the container ship, actually, 200 00:12:49,480 --> 00:12:52,240 because one of the biggest container ports in the entire 201 00:12:52,240 --> 00:12:54,240 Mediterranean is just around the corner. 202 00:12:56,280 --> 00:13:00,320 The Mediterranean Sea is less than 1% of the global ocean area, 203 00:13:00,320 --> 00:13:02,400 but it's vital for world trade. 204 00:13:02,400 --> 00:13:06,760 The port of Gioia Tauro receives an astonishing 2.5 million 205 00:13:06,760 --> 00:13:09,560 enormous shipping containers every year. 206 00:13:09,560 --> 00:13:12,000 Just look at the scale of this! 207 00:13:17,480 --> 00:13:20,560 These sealed boxes come in here from all over the world, 208 00:13:20,560 --> 00:13:22,600 and they bring the stuff of life with them. 209 00:13:24,440 --> 00:13:28,680 Medicines, showers, nappies, pianos, pineapples or anything else 210 00:13:28,680 --> 00:13:30,640 that we shift around the world. 211 00:13:30,640 --> 00:13:34,560 But many of them are also smuggling illicit goods. 212 00:13:38,040 --> 00:13:43,120 We are in a region that is under the thumb of the 'Ndrangheta, 213 00:13:43,600 --> 00:13:47,880 the Mafia which is the most powerful international organised 214 00:13:47,880 --> 00:13:50,200 crime syndicate in the whole of Europe. 215 00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:56,520 The 'Ndrangheta is a Mafia-type group that's hardly known 216 00:13:56,520 --> 00:13:59,040 outside Italy, but it's had this part of the country 217 00:13:59,040 --> 00:14:01,080 in its grip for decades. 218 00:14:01,080 --> 00:14:05,480 It's now also a global force, smuggling up to 80% of Europe's 219 00:14:05,480 --> 00:14:08,480 cocaine from South America, with large quantities coming 220 00:14:08,480 --> 00:14:09,840 through this port. 221 00:14:11,360 --> 00:14:14,840 I met up with Lieutenant Colonel Giampiero Carrieri 222 00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:18,240 from the Guardia di Finanza, Italy's anti-smuggling police. 223 00:14:36,000 --> 00:14:39,560 What is the normal process by which cocaine in particular 224 00:14:39,560 --> 00:14:41,440 is being smuggled in here? 225 00:14:41,440 --> 00:14:44,520 Do the shipping companies...? Are they part of the whole thing? 226 00:14:44,520 --> 00:14:45,640 No, no, no. 227 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:07,040 You know, it's only until you get up close to these shipping containers 228 00:15:07,040 --> 00:15:11,720 you realise the size of them, and how impossible it almost is 229 00:15:11,720 --> 00:15:15,200 to find something illicit that's been hidden inside. 230 00:15:15,200 --> 00:15:17,600 Needle and haystack doesn't come close. 231 00:15:17,600 --> 00:15:21,440 This container was clean, but Colonel Carrieri and his team 232 00:15:21,440 --> 00:15:24,320 have had success in their efforts to intercept the smuggling 233 00:15:24,320 --> 00:15:26,120 of cocaine. 234 00:15:26,120 --> 00:15:28,960 But finding it also means getting rid of it, 235 00:15:28,960 --> 00:15:31,960 transporting it through the heartland of the 'Ndrangheta. 236 00:15:34,840 --> 00:15:36,680 What are we doing, what's your plan? 237 00:15:47,240 --> 00:15:52,120 So, we are on over-watch duties for a convoy of narcotics 238 00:15:53,080 --> 00:15:55,720 that's being taken for destruction. 239 00:15:55,720 --> 00:15:58,800 The value of the drugs in the convoy is anything 240 00:15:58,800 --> 00:16:03,000 up to around £200 million. 241 00:16:03,000 --> 00:16:07,920 It is a load that would inspire almost any gang to attack 242 00:16:07,960 --> 00:16:09,320 and try and get them back. 243 00:16:12,600 --> 00:16:14,000 My God, look at them all. 244 00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:15,440 The convoy is just below us. 245 00:16:17,200 --> 00:16:19,720 There's an unmarked car at the front, 246 00:16:19,720 --> 00:16:23,560 and then marked vehicles surrounding an armoured van. 247 00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:31,320 All the time, they're looking for anything unusual on the route, 248 00:16:31,320 --> 00:16:33,400 for spotters, for people following them. 249 00:16:35,400 --> 00:16:38,240 Remember, the Mafia have used car bombs 250 00:16:38,240 --> 00:16:40,520 just a generation ago, that were so powerful, 251 00:16:40,520 --> 00:16:43,200 they registered on Italy's earthquake scale. 252 00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:07,200 I feel like I have seen things like this in far-flung and much 253 00:17:07,280 --> 00:17:12,320 more troubled parts of the world, but here we are in Italy, 254 00:17:12,680 --> 00:17:17,600 at the heart of the European Union, and there is a paramilitary convoy 255 00:17:20,240 --> 00:17:22,360 escorting drugs for destruction. 256 00:17:25,240 --> 00:17:29,480 This is the front line in Europe's war on drugs. 257 00:17:38,360 --> 00:17:41,000 They've put the perimeter around the van, 258 00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:43,960 they've taken up armed positions. 259 00:17:46,240 --> 00:17:47,360 Bloody hell. 260 00:17:56,760 --> 00:17:57,760 Look at this. 261 00:18:02,880 --> 00:18:04,120 One is 200... 262 00:18:04,120 --> 00:18:06,080 200,000 euros. 263 00:18:12,240 --> 00:18:15,280 It's just unbelievable, there is just masses more. 264 00:18:17,560 --> 00:18:20,560 I have never seen it on this sort of scale before. 265 00:18:20,560 --> 00:18:22,400 It's astonishing to see this much. 266 00:18:24,040 --> 00:18:26,640 It's a miracle you have stopped these 267 00:18:26,640 --> 00:18:29,520 before it reaches Naples, London - 268 00:18:29,520 --> 00:18:34,200 the cities where kids now are stabbing each other to death, 269 00:18:34,200 --> 00:18:37,240 in little gang battles, over this drug. 270 00:18:57,800 --> 00:19:00,560 Just this, this is about £25 million worth of cocaine. 271 00:19:02,400 --> 00:19:06,240 One estimate suggests the 'Ndrangheta account for 3% 272 00:19:06,240 --> 00:19:08,880 of the entire Italian economy. 273 00:19:08,880 --> 00:19:12,360 So, they're filming it as well to prove they're destroying it. 274 00:19:15,240 --> 00:19:17,960 The organisation is shockingly powerful. 275 00:19:17,960 --> 00:19:21,080 It makes tens of billions of pounds from drug smuggling. 276 00:19:23,760 --> 00:19:28,720 The street price for cocaine in Europe has stayed pretty stable, 277 00:19:33,080 --> 00:19:34,320 that's coming into Europe. 278 00:19:47,120 --> 00:19:52,080 More than any other Mafia group, the 'Ndrangheta relies on blood ties 279 00:19:52,080 --> 00:19:55,200 and family connections, and the rugged interior 280 00:19:55,200 --> 00:19:57,040 of this remote region of Italy. 281 00:20:02,760 --> 00:20:06,680 Many of the bosses of this powerful international organisation 282 00:20:06,680 --> 00:20:08,640 live quietly in isolated villages. 283 00:20:10,280 --> 00:20:12,400 We're on our way to meet an elite police unit, 284 00:20:12,400 --> 00:20:15,680 called the Cacciatore, which means "the hunters". 285 00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:19,960 Hello, buona sera... 286 00:20:19,960 --> 00:20:24,000 Lieutenant Dario Corcione leads a unit that specialises in hunting 287 00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:25,640 the bosses of the 'Ndrangheta. 288 00:20:27,160 --> 00:20:28,240 Bloody hell. 289 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:33,080 You get a real sense of what they have to get up to. 290 00:20:33,080 --> 00:20:36,040 Are you military, are you police? 291 00:20:36,040 --> 00:20:39,320 We do both things, so get the information to know 292 00:20:39,320 --> 00:20:42,760 where the people is, and they also have the training 293 00:20:42,760 --> 00:20:47,240 and the tools to go in their house and arrest these people. 294 00:20:47,240 --> 00:20:50,480 You're a well-equipped, surveillance, fighting, 295 00:20:50,480 --> 00:20:51,960 investigative unit. 296 00:20:51,960 --> 00:20:53,240 Satisfying? 297 00:20:53,240 --> 00:20:55,200 Yes, really satisfying. 298 00:20:58,040 --> 00:20:59,000 Heading out. 299 00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:04,520 Using the cover of darkness, Dario and his team took me 300 00:21:04,520 --> 00:21:07,960 on a risky mission deep into 'Ndrangheta territory. 301 00:21:07,960 --> 00:21:11,200 It's not a territory of Italy, you know, 302 00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:13,400 it's territory of 'Ndrangheta. 303 00:21:13,400 --> 00:21:15,040 There is no state there. 304 00:21:15,040 --> 00:21:18,280 That's an incredible thing to hear. They don't want any form of state. 305 00:21:18,280 --> 00:21:20,760 They're trying to keep Italy out? 306 00:21:20,760 --> 00:21:22,920 The territory is their territory. 307 00:21:25,040 --> 00:21:29,640 The 'Ndrangheta organisation uses murder, kidnapping and fear 308 00:21:29,640 --> 00:21:32,480 to control scores of villages like this. 309 00:21:32,480 --> 00:21:35,800 Dario's men led us quietly through backstreets to a building 310 00:21:35,800 --> 00:21:38,600 once used as a safe house by a member of the 'Ndrangheta. 311 00:21:41,680 --> 00:21:42,960 Oh, my God! 312 00:21:42,960 --> 00:21:44,720 This was the entrance. 313 00:21:44,720 --> 00:21:48,400 So, this house was raided, and there was a fugitive 314 00:21:48,400 --> 00:21:51,480 who'd, what, hidden under the floor here? 315 00:21:51,480 --> 00:21:52,880 You can see the stairs. 316 00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:57,920 So, the whole step that was here is mounted on rails to pull it 317 00:21:58,600 --> 00:22:00,120 backwards and forwards. 318 00:22:00,120 --> 00:22:02,880 I mean, that is ingenious. 319 00:22:04,440 --> 00:22:08,880 And this leads to the room where actually they hide themselves. 320 00:22:10,320 --> 00:22:11,720 OK, it's a little bit tricky. 321 00:22:13,800 --> 00:22:15,400 Can you believe what they've done here? 322 00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:18,440 Four, four beds. 323 00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:21,000 This was their life. 324 00:22:24,560 --> 00:22:26,000 What's this? 325 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:28,280 Oh, my God, there's a whole other tunnel here? 326 00:22:28,280 --> 00:22:29,280 Let's go. 327 00:22:30,800 --> 00:22:32,040 Totally bizarre. 328 00:22:35,600 --> 00:22:37,320 Is this in the same house we were in? 329 00:22:42,400 --> 00:22:43,720 It's another house. 330 00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:50,000 A network of tunnels and bunkers extends beneath 331 00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:51,120 much of this village. 332 00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:54,680 I've never seen anything like this. 333 00:22:57,320 --> 00:23:00,520 The warren is used by members of 'Ndrangheta to escape 334 00:23:00,520 --> 00:23:02,920 if the police are spotted entering the village. 335 00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:12,000 This is totally and utterly surreal, but absolutely, sickeningly 336 00:23:13,080 --> 00:23:15,480 ingenious, at the same time. 337 00:23:15,480 --> 00:23:19,200 Tunnels lead off tunnels, lead off chambers - 338 00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:22,520 it's like Alice in Wonderland meets Narcos. 339 00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:28,920 HE LAUGHS 340 00:23:28,920 --> 00:23:30,320 Are you all right, mate? 341 00:23:30,320 --> 00:23:32,240 What the hell are we doing?! 342 00:23:32,240 --> 00:23:34,400 Come to the Mediterranean, go to a beach! 343 00:23:34,400 --> 00:23:37,040 THEY LAUGH 344 00:23:37,040 --> 00:23:38,680 What is that? 345 00:23:38,680 --> 00:23:39,680 Drainage. 346 00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:41,120 What, you're in the sewer? 347 00:23:43,560 --> 00:23:46,600 Of course, so as soon as they can get into here, 348 00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:48,400 they can move around the whole town. 349 00:23:50,080 --> 00:23:53,400 In all, the Cacciatore have discovered 400 underground 350 00:23:53,400 --> 00:23:57,000 hiding places and bunkers across this region, some big enough 351 00:23:57,000 --> 00:24:00,400 for vehicles to drive through, allowing fugitives to evade 352 00:24:00,400 --> 00:24:01,840 capture for years. 353 00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:04,040 These people are fanatical. 354 00:24:04,040 --> 00:24:06,320 This is a community who's done this. 355 00:24:06,320 --> 00:24:09,520 How the hell do you combat an enemy that is prepared to go 356 00:24:09,520 --> 00:24:10,720 to these lengths? 357 00:24:12,600 --> 00:24:16,680 In desperation, the Italian state is using the Cacciatore. 358 00:24:16,680 --> 00:24:19,920 Trained in counterinsurgency, the squad includes veterans 359 00:24:19,920 --> 00:24:22,560 from foreign battlefields and counterterrorism 360 00:24:22,560 --> 00:24:24,280 operations abroad. 361 00:24:24,280 --> 00:24:28,560 Now they conduct investigations and intense surveillance 362 00:24:28,560 --> 00:24:31,280 on 'Ndrangheta targets in their own country. 363 00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:33,920 Now things get a bit trickier. 364 00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:36,840 It was three in the morning, and I was being allowed to join 365 00:24:36,840 --> 00:24:39,000 one of their current operations. 366 00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:42,880 So, we're being taken on a live surveillance mission. 367 00:24:42,880 --> 00:24:45,840 We need to travel without noise, without lights. 368 00:24:45,840 --> 00:24:50,200 We'll be using infrared night vision, and we need to get to 369 00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:53,200 an observation position that's about a half-hour hike away. 370 00:24:58,200 --> 00:25:02,400 WHISPERING: We are really in the heart of Mafia territory. 371 00:25:02,400 --> 00:25:05,680 My heart is really starting to tick and bounce. 372 00:25:11,600 --> 00:25:14,360 We've come out, we're on top of the town. 373 00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:19,000 This is where they are looking at the moment for wanted 374 00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:21,840 'Ndrangheta fugitives. 375 00:25:27,920 --> 00:25:31,400 And why do you focus on the son and the wife of the fugitive? 376 00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:38,920 OK. 377 00:25:49,120 --> 00:25:50,200 Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. 378 00:25:54,200 --> 00:25:57,920 Absolutely mind-blowing, to me, that you predicted 379 00:25:57,920 --> 00:26:00,240 they would be coming back from the football around now. 380 00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:04,320 Yeah. And all of a sudden, all the cars started appearing. 381 00:26:10,520 --> 00:26:11,680 Amazing. 382 00:26:11,680 --> 00:26:13,680 They wake up late in the morning. 383 00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:17,880 They don't work, they don't start, they don't do anything. 384 00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:22,800 They see only one opportunity, they see only one way to live. 385 00:26:22,840 --> 00:26:25,040 Crime. 386 00:26:29,920 --> 00:26:33,160 In this area, anything out of the ordinary 387 00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:35,320 gets their attention. 388 00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:36,400 It's noted. 389 00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:40,920 And that's how they build up intelligence on what the hell 390 00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:43,360 is going on, and how they ultimately catch people. 391 00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:48,200 The Cacciatore have their work cut out. 392 00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:52,480 The 'Ndrangheta is actually growing in power, spreading internationally. 393 00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:55,520 Listening to the experts, this felt more like part 394 00:26:55,520 --> 00:26:59,760 of a failed narco-state than the toe of one of Europe's great nations. 395 00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:09,520 In the glorious light of day, the problems facing this part 396 00:27:09,520 --> 00:27:11,840 of the Mediterranean felt even more surreal. 397 00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:14,600 It's time to head on. 398 00:27:14,600 --> 00:27:15,880 I've got a train to catch. 399 00:27:19,080 --> 00:27:22,520 The 'Ndrangheta's corruption of the region is partly why 400 00:27:22,520 --> 00:27:25,000 it's one of the least-known and least-visited corners 401 00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:26,560 of the whole country. 402 00:27:30,480 --> 00:27:32,440 What a beautiful part of the world this is. 403 00:27:34,280 --> 00:27:35,720 Look, on that whole beach... 404 00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:38,560 ..two sunbathers! 405 00:27:45,720 --> 00:27:49,160 I was getting off the train at the small town of Brancaleone, 406 00:27:49,160 --> 00:27:52,160 at the most southerly tip of the Italian mainland, 407 00:27:52,160 --> 00:27:53,600 but I wasn't heading far. 408 00:27:56,440 --> 00:27:59,120 So, what is just about the last thing you would expect to find 409 00:27:59,120 --> 00:28:00,280 in a train station? 410 00:28:01,760 --> 00:28:04,600 A turtle rescue centre, perhaps? 411 00:28:04,600 --> 00:28:07,000 Buon giorno! Buon giorno! 412 00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:08,640 Filippo? 413 00:28:08,640 --> 00:28:11,200 Simon. Filippo. Very nice to meet you. Tania? Ciao! 414 00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:13,720 Hi, very nice to see you too. Buon giorno. 415 00:28:13,720 --> 00:28:17,600 Filippo and Tania have refashioned this old ticket office to help 416 00:28:17,600 --> 00:28:20,600 save some of the Med's most incredible sea life. 417 00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:22,080 HE GASPS 418 00:28:22,080 --> 00:28:25,240 Oh, my goodness, look at the size of you! 419 00:28:31,280 --> 00:28:33,200 How has he lost so much of his flipper? 420 00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:41,520 So, how much of a problem is plastic to the turtles, then? 421 00:28:53,720 --> 00:28:55,080 All of this was in Raoul? 422 00:29:28,240 --> 00:29:29,520 Oh, my God! 423 00:29:36,880 --> 00:29:41,880 I haven't seen such clear evidence of the consequences 424 00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:44,880 of the modern world for marine life. 425 00:29:44,880 --> 00:29:46,280 Look! 426 00:29:46,280 --> 00:29:48,400 This is astonishing! 427 00:29:48,400 --> 00:29:51,400 This is a packet of pasta, for goodness' sake! 428 00:29:59,360 --> 00:30:03,200 I feel your emotion. I feel it, too, I really do. 429 00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:04,960 It's needle-sharp. 430 00:30:09,680 --> 00:30:11,200 Look, you big beastie! 431 00:30:12,960 --> 00:30:16,600 Parrot-beak of a mouth comes open, snaffles it straight down. 432 00:30:18,840 --> 00:30:22,840 Raoul's made it to 30 years old, breeding age, 433 00:30:22,840 --> 00:30:26,760 a milestone only one in 1,000 turtles ever reach. 434 00:30:30,040 --> 00:30:33,080 We are here on such a special day, 435 00:30:33,080 --> 00:30:36,640 because Raoul is about to be released. 436 00:30:41,680 --> 00:30:42,800 Hold down? 437 00:30:42,800 --> 00:30:43,800 OK. 438 00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:54,800 So, 5065 is going to be you, Raoul. 439 00:30:56,640 --> 00:31:00,880 How far did you have to look to find turtle leggings? 440 00:31:09,440 --> 00:31:11,640 Life in the Med faces increasing threats 441 00:31:11,640 --> 00:31:14,000 from pollution and overfishing. 442 00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:16,720 Over the past 50 years, marine mammals have collapsed 443 00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:18,160 by almost half. 444 00:31:18,160 --> 00:31:21,720 More than 90% of fish stocks studied are overexploited. 445 00:31:21,720 --> 00:31:23,000 Oh, my goodness! 446 00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:24,720 Raoul's keen to go! 447 00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:27,880 The Med faces a catastrophe without more protection 448 00:31:27,880 --> 00:31:29,440 and conservation like this. 449 00:31:31,400 --> 00:31:33,360 Tania, are you going to miss him? 450 00:31:51,560 --> 00:31:53,480 Look, his flippers are going already! 451 00:31:57,760 --> 00:31:59,440 He swims! He's going! 452 00:31:59,440 --> 00:32:00,880 Aww! 453 00:32:00,880 --> 00:32:01,960 SHE SOBS 454 00:32:07,480 --> 00:32:09,760 Thank you! 455 00:32:09,760 --> 00:32:11,920 Thank you, on behalf of everyone! 456 00:32:15,040 --> 00:32:17,800 What an incredible moment that is! 457 00:32:26,720 --> 00:32:28,800 I wonder where he is now? 458 00:32:28,800 --> 00:32:32,440 Swimming off, hopefully looking for a mate. 459 00:32:33,520 --> 00:32:35,560 He's been in a tank for a couple of months, 460 00:32:35,560 --> 00:32:38,120 he's of breeding age and he's probably quite horny! 461 00:32:39,800 --> 00:32:43,680 Let's hope he produces a few more offspring, 462 00:32:43,680 --> 00:32:46,720 because, my God, the Med needs it. 463 00:32:53,120 --> 00:32:56,720 I continued my journey, close to the Mediterranean, 464 00:32:56,720 --> 00:32:58,600 across Italy's deep south. 465 00:33:05,760 --> 00:33:10,800 It's just empty, abandoned factory after abandoned factory here. 466 00:33:14,400 --> 00:33:17,400 This region, like much of Mediterranean Europe, 467 00:33:17,400 --> 00:33:20,160 from southern Spain right through to Greece, 468 00:33:20,160 --> 00:33:23,240 is enduring economic meltdown. 469 00:33:23,240 --> 00:33:27,560 The global financial crisis was followed by the Euro crisis. 470 00:33:27,560 --> 00:33:29,360 People here are still suffering. 471 00:33:31,240 --> 00:33:34,560 Unemployment is double the EU average here. 472 00:33:34,560 --> 00:33:38,680 Youth unemployment is running at more than 55%. 473 00:33:38,680 --> 00:33:40,320 Look at this place. 474 00:33:40,320 --> 00:33:41,760 Can we stop, can we stop here? 475 00:33:41,760 --> 00:33:44,200 It's one of the most deprived areas in Europe. 476 00:33:46,360 --> 00:33:47,840 This is a sad sight, isn't it? 477 00:33:47,840 --> 00:33:49,880 With the locked gates here. 478 00:33:49,880 --> 00:33:53,040 There must have been a couple of hundred people working here, 479 00:33:53,040 --> 00:33:56,120 and then one day they're all turfed out of their jobs. 480 00:33:56,120 --> 00:33:58,840 It's part of the tragedy, really, of southern Italy, 481 00:33:58,840 --> 00:34:03,560 I think, where there's been generations of underinvestment 482 00:34:03,560 --> 00:34:04,960 in this part of the country. 483 00:34:09,400 --> 00:34:12,440 There's no better illustration of the depths of poverty 484 00:34:12,440 --> 00:34:16,320 in southern Italy than the place I was heading to next. 485 00:34:16,320 --> 00:34:19,760 In living memory, thousands of residents in the town of Matera 486 00:34:19,760 --> 00:34:23,200 were so poor they lived in damp, dark caves. 487 00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:31,040 People were living in the caves here until the 1950s, 488 00:34:31,720 --> 00:34:36,760 when the Italian Prime Minister declared this poverty 489 00:34:37,440 --> 00:34:42,120 a national scandal, and everybody was moved out, 490 00:34:42,120 --> 00:34:46,160 forcibly moved out of the caves, into public housing, 491 00:34:46,160 --> 00:34:47,800 and so a whole way of life ended. 492 00:34:49,440 --> 00:34:53,960 Matera is now turning its once shameful caves into an asset. 493 00:34:53,960 --> 00:34:58,320 Many of them are being refashioned as holiday homes and fancy hotels. 494 00:34:58,320 --> 00:34:59,880 Marco? Yeah, it's me! 495 00:35:01,560 --> 00:35:03,960 This is your cave. This is my... 496 00:35:05,440 --> 00:35:06,480 Look at this! 497 00:35:07,480 --> 00:35:08,680 It's astonishing! 498 00:35:13,320 --> 00:35:14,480 This was a home? 499 00:35:14,480 --> 00:35:18,480 Family share the house with donkeys, cow, big animals. 500 00:35:18,480 --> 00:35:21,520 People lived with their animals inside the cave? 501 00:35:21,520 --> 00:35:23,080 Flipping heck! 502 00:35:25,600 --> 00:35:30,240 I sense that you're turning this from something that is shameful 503 00:35:30,240 --> 00:35:32,680 or embarrassing, or people feel that way about it, 504 00:35:32,680 --> 00:35:35,120 into something to be incredibly proud of. 505 00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:39,720 Exactly. We start to understand that there is a way to live again. 506 00:35:39,720 --> 00:35:41,360 We need to be proud of this. 507 00:35:45,280 --> 00:35:48,120 Isn't it totally spectacular? 508 00:35:48,120 --> 00:35:52,200 Something and somewhere I won't ever forget. 509 00:35:52,200 --> 00:35:54,680 I'm going to enjoy a good night's sleep tonight, 510 00:35:54,680 --> 00:35:55,840 I think. 511 00:35:57,040 --> 00:35:58,040 Ahhh... 512 00:36:12,680 --> 00:36:13,720 Wow! 513 00:36:15,640 --> 00:36:16,960 I mean, look at this. 514 00:36:16,960 --> 00:36:18,160 This is almost biblical. 515 00:36:23,440 --> 00:36:24,680 Come on, now! 516 00:36:33,440 --> 00:36:37,240 Matera isn't following the script of southern Italy's decline. 517 00:36:40,920 --> 00:36:42,960 Oh, look, Italian wedding! 518 00:36:42,960 --> 00:36:44,040 CHEERING 519 00:36:45,640 --> 00:36:47,040 Fantastic. 520 00:36:47,040 --> 00:36:48,840 What a completely splendid sight! 521 00:36:50,480 --> 00:36:53,280 Any wedding, anything like this, it represents rejuvenation, 522 00:36:53,280 --> 00:36:54,960 regeneration. 523 00:36:54,960 --> 00:36:58,880 It's so good to see, because too many towns and villages 524 00:36:58,880 --> 00:37:02,480 in southern Italy have been completely depopulated 525 00:37:02,480 --> 00:37:06,200 in recent generations, but here, this has got a future. 526 00:37:07,520 --> 00:37:08,520 Aww! 527 00:37:09,840 --> 00:37:11,000 It's beautiful! 528 00:37:27,680 --> 00:37:31,280 So, we were in the toe of Italy, now we're in the arch, 529 00:37:31,280 --> 00:37:32,920 and we're heading for the heel. 530 00:37:34,400 --> 00:37:37,680 And Italy's heel belongs to the region of Puglia, 531 00:37:37,680 --> 00:37:40,440 one of the country's most picturesque and productive 532 00:37:40,440 --> 00:37:41,480 farming areas. 533 00:37:44,120 --> 00:37:45,240 Oh, wow! 534 00:37:45,240 --> 00:37:48,920 Out there, this is the Adriatic bit of the Mediterranean. 535 00:37:48,920 --> 00:37:50,280 Pretty spectacular, eh? 536 00:37:52,240 --> 00:37:56,040 Goodness, so these are all olive trees down here. 537 00:37:56,040 --> 00:37:58,120 Thousands and thousands of them. 538 00:38:03,800 --> 00:38:08,080 Puglia is the absolute heart of Italy's olive oil industry, 539 00:38:08,080 --> 00:38:11,120 producing more than 50% of the country's entire output. 540 00:38:13,160 --> 00:38:16,760 I met up with a plant pathologist called Margherita D'Amico, 541 00:38:16,760 --> 00:38:19,240 who's in love with the olive tree. 542 00:38:19,240 --> 00:38:21,880 Margherita, how old do you think this one would be? 543 00:38:24,720 --> 00:38:27,360 2,000 years old? Yep. 544 00:38:28,560 --> 00:38:30,200 Do you ever just give them a hug? 545 00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:33,080 THEY LAUGH 546 00:38:33,080 --> 00:38:35,280 What about a little cuddle? Ah, si, si, si! 547 00:38:45,640 --> 00:38:48,680 But the soul of the people of Puglia is threatened. 548 00:38:50,600 --> 00:38:52,760 Olive trees here are facing a catastrophe. 549 00:38:55,400 --> 00:38:58,240 The region is ground zero for a deadly disease, 550 00:38:58,240 --> 00:38:59,240 called Xylella. 551 00:39:00,560 --> 00:39:02,880 Next day, Margherita took me to the front line. 552 00:39:05,760 --> 00:39:07,640 These trees, what's happening to them? 553 00:39:14,040 --> 00:39:15,680 It's completely dry and dead. 554 00:39:15,680 --> 00:39:16,960 Si. 555 00:39:16,960 --> 00:39:19,520 This is so serious, some call the disease 556 00:39:19,520 --> 00:39:21,600 the olive tree Ebola. 557 00:39:21,600 --> 00:39:23,880 To stop it spreading, authorities advise farmers 558 00:39:23,880 --> 00:39:25,880 to set up containment zones. 559 00:39:25,880 --> 00:39:28,880 This is horrific, this is hundreds of trees 560 00:39:28,880 --> 00:39:30,320 that have been chopped down. 561 00:39:32,880 --> 00:39:35,840 Government scientists say all the trees in a 100-metre radius 562 00:39:35,840 --> 00:39:38,120 of those affected needs to be removed. 563 00:39:42,080 --> 00:39:44,720 It could mean a million or more of Puglia's olive trees 564 00:39:44,720 --> 00:39:46,200 are destroyed. 565 00:39:46,200 --> 00:39:49,280 Olive trees and production around much of the Mediterranean 566 00:39:49,280 --> 00:39:51,080 is now threatened. 567 00:39:51,080 --> 00:39:54,920 Many locals here vehemently disagree with the containment policy. 568 00:39:54,920 --> 00:39:58,520 Margherita is among the respected scientists who think it's a mistake. 569 00:40:18,480 --> 00:40:21,720 A final decision on how to deal with Xylella in Italy 570 00:40:21,720 --> 00:40:23,440 still hasn't been taken. 571 00:40:23,440 --> 00:40:26,200 I went to meet one of the farmers whose whole livelihood 572 00:40:26,200 --> 00:40:27,520 hangs in the balance. 573 00:40:30,240 --> 00:40:32,080 Buona sera. Simon. 574 00:40:32,080 --> 00:40:33,040 Very nice to meet you. 575 00:40:35,520 --> 00:40:37,880 Chicco Minnelli is 82. 576 00:40:37,880 --> 00:40:40,880 He and his wife Anna have been farming olive trees 577 00:40:40,880 --> 00:40:42,200 their whole lives. 578 00:40:54,720 --> 00:40:57,280 What have you been told about what the disease 579 00:40:57,280 --> 00:40:59,160 will do to your trees? 580 00:41:04,960 --> 00:41:06,000 HIS VOICE CRACKS 581 00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:09,040 HE SOBS 582 00:41:44,800 --> 00:41:47,040 It does sound like a very violent response 583 00:41:47,040 --> 00:41:49,040 to the situation, doesn't it? 584 00:42:08,080 --> 00:42:11,440 Xylella has now also been found in Spain. 585 00:42:11,440 --> 00:42:14,880 Half the world's olive oil is now said to be threatened. 586 00:42:14,880 --> 00:42:18,560 For people around the Mediterranean, where an enormous number 587 00:42:18,560 --> 00:42:23,600 of families depend on olive trees, this could be a total disaster. 588 00:42:33,360 --> 00:42:37,240 I was headed on to the Italian port of Brindisi. 589 00:42:37,240 --> 00:42:39,640 I was catching a ferry across the Adriatic. 590 00:42:45,760 --> 00:42:46,920 Oh, this is me. 591 00:42:48,800 --> 00:42:50,040 Ta-da! 592 00:42:50,040 --> 00:42:51,120 Look! 593 00:42:52,160 --> 00:42:54,040 It's a double bed, for goodness' sake. 594 00:42:54,040 --> 00:42:55,360 Ahh... 595 00:42:55,360 --> 00:42:56,440 That's not bad. 596 00:42:59,440 --> 00:43:01,960 Really looking forward to this part of the journey 597 00:43:01,960 --> 00:43:03,640 around the Mediterranean. 598 00:43:03,640 --> 00:43:07,280 This boat, this ship is going to take me across the water 599 00:43:07,280 --> 00:43:10,920 to a country that was really cut off from the outside world 600 00:43:10,920 --> 00:43:12,520 until very recently. 601 00:43:12,520 --> 00:43:13,560 Albania. 602 00:43:17,280 --> 00:43:22,000 It's only 60 miles from Italy, but Albania is one of the least-known 603 00:43:22,000 --> 00:43:23,120 corners of the Med... 604 00:43:25,680 --> 00:43:28,240 ..only now emerging into the light, 605 00:43:28,240 --> 00:43:32,240 after decades of dictatorship, isolation and chaos. 606 00:43:35,800 --> 00:43:36,920 Morning, Albania. 607 00:43:44,600 --> 00:43:47,680 So, we've had a cup of tea, a bit of breakfast, with Vlad. 608 00:43:47,680 --> 00:43:48,720 Four what? 609 00:43:49,920 --> 00:43:50,960 You're buzzing! 610 00:43:56,400 --> 00:43:58,160 You've had some coffee-Viagra? 611 00:43:58,160 --> 00:43:59,480 Interesting, Vlad! 612 00:44:01,960 --> 00:44:03,560 It's looking pretty good, isn't it? 613 00:44:03,560 --> 00:44:06,560 Look, this has all been redone and renovated recently. 614 00:44:06,560 --> 00:44:07,600 Come on. 615 00:44:10,200 --> 00:44:11,240 Look at the view! 616 00:44:12,840 --> 00:44:13,840 Albania! 617 00:44:15,720 --> 00:44:19,000 For four decades until his death in 1985, 618 00:44:19,000 --> 00:44:22,240 Albania was in the iron grip of Enver Hoxha, 619 00:44:22,240 --> 00:44:25,440 a dictator so hard-line he fell out with 620 00:44:25,440 --> 00:44:28,320 the Soviet Union because they weren't communist enough. 621 00:44:30,280 --> 00:44:33,600 This country was so cut off, for so long. 622 00:44:35,240 --> 00:44:39,680 Life under the dictatorship here was pretty harsh for people. 623 00:44:42,080 --> 00:44:45,000 There were political prisoners, there were assassinations 624 00:44:45,000 --> 00:44:48,240 and executions, and there was terrible poverty. 625 00:44:48,240 --> 00:44:50,480 Private ownership of cars was banned. 626 00:44:50,480 --> 00:44:55,360 Even the number of chickens that a family could have was controlled. 627 00:44:55,360 --> 00:44:58,480 At one point, the secret police here were said to have a quarter 628 00:44:58,480 --> 00:45:01,240 of the population under surveillance. 629 00:45:01,240 --> 00:45:03,840 No wonder this was known as the North Korea of Europe. 630 00:45:14,280 --> 00:45:18,240 You have to know, if someone directs the antenna in the direction 631 00:45:18,240 --> 00:45:21,600 of Italy, at the time, morning, next morning, 632 00:45:21,600 --> 00:45:24,800 someone from the police would come to take you in questions. 633 00:45:24,800 --> 00:45:27,040 They kill without judgment in the prisons. 634 00:45:27,040 --> 00:45:28,960 Many political prisoners. 635 00:45:28,960 --> 00:45:30,720 One of them, it was my grandfather. 636 00:45:30,720 --> 00:45:33,320 Your grandfather was a political prisoner? 637 00:45:33,320 --> 00:45:34,720 He died in prison? 638 00:45:34,720 --> 00:45:35,960 Yeah, he died in prison. 639 00:45:35,960 --> 00:45:40,840 We yet don't know where is his body. 640 00:45:40,840 --> 00:45:42,240 We don't know. 641 00:45:42,240 --> 00:45:43,240 Wow. 642 00:45:45,080 --> 00:45:50,000 Under Hoxha's dictatorship, the Mediterranean became a moat. 643 00:45:50,000 --> 00:45:53,400 Travel in or out of the country was almost completely banned. 644 00:45:55,600 --> 00:45:59,120 The remains of this fortress mentality can still be seen 645 00:45:59,120 --> 00:46:00,360 all over Albania. 646 00:46:02,560 --> 00:46:06,040 These are a real feature of Albania. 647 00:46:06,040 --> 00:46:10,720 There are anything up to 700,000 or 800,000, 648 00:46:10,720 --> 00:46:14,160 perhaps, of these bunkers across the country. 649 00:46:14,160 --> 00:46:17,000 They used the building of these bunkers as a means 650 00:46:17,000 --> 00:46:20,000 of really drawing the country together 651 00:46:20,000 --> 00:46:23,280 against an unspecified foreign enemy. 652 00:46:26,560 --> 00:46:31,600 You can get a sense of, God, the claustrophobic paranoia 653 00:46:31,880 --> 00:46:34,080 that you would feel inside the bunker, 654 00:46:34,080 --> 00:46:37,920 and inside the country, I think, actually, as well. 655 00:46:37,920 --> 00:46:40,120 So cut off, so closed. 656 00:46:45,480 --> 00:46:50,520 So, this was an old Albanian Navy base, and in the chaos that followed 657 00:46:51,960 --> 00:46:55,800 the collapse of the dictatorship here, places like this, 658 00:46:55,800 --> 00:47:00,080 military facilities, were ransacked of almost everything 659 00:47:00,080 --> 00:47:03,280 they contained, but particularly hundreds and hundreds 660 00:47:03,280 --> 00:47:05,320 of thousands of weapons. 661 00:47:08,080 --> 00:47:12,480 After the fall of communism in the 1990s, the economy collapsed, 662 00:47:12,480 --> 00:47:14,280 and the country descended into chaos. 663 00:47:23,640 --> 00:47:27,680 With Vlad behind the wheel, fuelled by a few more coffees, 664 00:47:27,680 --> 00:47:28,960 we headed to the far north. 665 00:47:30,920 --> 00:47:33,960 Here, Albania's post-communist anarchy had often 666 00:47:33,960 --> 00:47:35,280 tragic consequences. 667 00:47:38,040 --> 00:47:41,120 We're coming into an area of the country now where life, 668 00:47:41,120 --> 00:47:43,920 for many, is governed by an ancient code. 669 00:47:47,280 --> 00:47:51,080 When the rule of law collapsed here, it left a void. 670 00:47:51,080 --> 00:47:54,040 Many people turned back to a centuries-old code, 671 00:47:54,040 --> 00:47:55,280 known as the Kanun. 672 00:47:56,560 --> 00:47:59,760 In the city of Shkodra, I met up with local teacher, 673 00:47:59,760 --> 00:48:01,800 Liljana Luani. 674 00:48:01,800 --> 00:48:05,320 Can you tell us what is the Kanun? 675 00:48:24,560 --> 00:48:29,120 So, it's an eye for an eye, a murder should result in another, 676 00:48:29,120 --> 00:48:31,040 should be avenged by another murder? 677 00:48:33,720 --> 00:48:38,760 It's quite hard to comprehend, really, because, looking around, 678 00:48:42,280 --> 00:48:44,880 But it sounds like what you're talking about is a much 679 00:48:44,880 --> 00:48:48,520 more medieval aspect of the country that perhaps is a bit more hidden 680 00:48:48,520 --> 00:48:49,920 under the surface. 681 00:48:56,920 --> 00:49:00,600 The Kanun is thought to have played a part in hundreds of murders 682 00:49:00,600 --> 00:49:01,720 in modern Albania. 683 00:49:03,600 --> 00:49:07,000 Families find themselves locked in so-called blood feuds 684 00:49:07,000 --> 00:49:08,400 for generations. 685 00:49:10,280 --> 00:49:11,880 Liljana, where are we going? 686 00:49:20,440 --> 00:49:24,400 Are you saying that children get caught up in the blood feuds, 687 00:49:24,400 --> 00:49:26,320 that they can't leave their houses? 688 00:49:37,480 --> 00:49:38,520 This is horrific. 689 00:49:38,520 --> 00:49:40,840 If he left his house, what could happen to him? 690 00:49:51,040 --> 00:49:52,360 We're on our way to see him now. 691 00:49:52,360 --> 00:49:54,240 We're not going to be able to show you his face, 692 00:49:54,240 --> 00:49:56,360 or where he lives, but hopefully we'll be able to hear 693 00:49:56,360 --> 00:49:57,560 a little bit of his story. 694 00:49:59,480 --> 00:50:01,320 All right, let's get the camera down. 695 00:50:20,320 --> 00:50:22,480 Marko, are you all right with talking to us? 696 00:50:23,960 --> 00:50:25,760 How long have you been in the house? 697 00:50:27,440 --> 00:50:28,560 Are we talking years? 698 00:50:30,480 --> 00:50:32,680 Do you have to stay in the house, 699 00:50:32,680 --> 00:50:35,160 or are you able to go into the garden as well? 700 00:50:40,280 --> 00:50:43,600 Marko, which isn't his real name, is part of a family locked 701 00:50:43,600 --> 00:50:45,240 in two blood feuds. 702 00:50:45,240 --> 00:50:47,760 His father is in jail for a murder. 703 00:50:47,760 --> 00:50:50,720 If Marko leaves the house, he could be murdered in revenge 704 00:50:50,720 --> 00:50:53,440 by the family of his father's victim. 705 00:50:53,440 --> 00:50:55,080 Can you talk us through your day? 706 00:51:18,880 --> 00:51:21,080 What would you most like to do in life, Marko? 707 00:51:42,240 --> 00:51:46,800 Do you see a time in the future when this blood feud could end? 708 00:52:06,000 --> 00:52:11,040 Well, Marko is a very shy young lad, not surprisingly, 709 00:52:11,480 --> 00:52:16,120 given that he's basically in almost solitary confinement. 710 00:52:17,160 --> 00:52:21,400 He's a shadow of the teenager he could be. 711 00:52:21,400 --> 00:52:23,040 It's just completely obscene. 712 00:52:24,840 --> 00:52:29,560 An adult commits a crime, and a child can be killed for it? 713 00:52:29,560 --> 00:52:33,000 What sort of place does this have in a country that's in talks 714 00:52:33,000 --> 00:52:35,840 to join the European Union, for goodness' sake? 715 00:52:43,760 --> 00:52:46,760 It's completely heartbreaking, it really is. 716 00:52:48,800 --> 00:52:49,840 Prison. 717 00:52:58,200 --> 00:53:01,640 Life around the Mediterranean was proving much more extreme 718 00:53:01,640 --> 00:53:03,680 than I'd ever expected. 719 00:53:03,680 --> 00:53:07,200 As I neared the end of the first part of my journey, 720 00:53:07,200 --> 00:53:09,640 I headed back towards Albania's coast. 721 00:53:12,800 --> 00:53:17,840 Albania has perhaps the greatest system of wetlands 722 00:53:18,280 --> 00:53:20,640 in the entire Mediterranean. 723 00:53:20,640 --> 00:53:25,680 It's an absolutely crucial rest stop for birds that are crossing 724 00:53:25,800 --> 00:53:27,400 the Mediterranean Sea. 725 00:53:28,680 --> 00:53:32,480 The largest and most important of these coastal lagoons 726 00:53:32,480 --> 00:53:34,560 is Karavasta National Park. 727 00:53:34,560 --> 00:53:36,080 Look at this! 728 00:53:36,080 --> 00:53:38,400 It is completely enormous! 729 00:53:38,400 --> 00:53:43,440 A critical habitat for an incredible 250 species of birds, 730 00:53:43,520 --> 00:53:47,200 many of them threatened by hunting around the Mediterranean. 731 00:53:47,200 --> 00:53:51,160 I met up with a heroic conservationist called Ardian Koci, 732 00:53:51,160 --> 00:53:52,440 the park's director. 733 00:53:58,240 --> 00:53:59,640 Morning! 734 00:54:01,960 --> 00:54:04,160 Pelicans? You have pelicans in the park? 735 00:54:13,480 --> 00:54:14,560 Wow! 736 00:54:14,560 --> 00:54:16,400 What a beautiful creature. 737 00:54:25,280 --> 00:54:28,760 To see something that large in flight is a real treasure. 738 00:54:31,320 --> 00:54:32,640 Oh, my goodness! 739 00:54:32,640 --> 00:54:34,400 It's a whole island of pelicans. 740 00:54:39,120 --> 00:54:40,360 Brilliant! 741 00:54:40,360 --> 00:54:41,760 What do you love about them? 742 00:54:47,880 --> 00:54:51,120 They're really crammed onto their little islands there, 743 00:54:51,120 --> 00:54:52,480 but they seem to get on OK. 744 00:55:00,840 --> 00:55:03,280 They share parental responsibility? 745 00:55:03,280 --> 00:55:05,720 Around the Mediterranean... 746 00:55:05,720 --> 00:55:07,120 Pelican incoming! 747 00:55:07,120 --> 00:55:10,520 ..tens, possibly hundreds of millions of birds are hunted 748 00:55:10,520 --> 00:55:12,440 every year. In Egypt and Lebanon, 749 00:55:12,440 --> 00:55:15,280 birds are slaughtered in their millions. 750 00:55:15,280 --> 00:55:19,320 Even inside the European Union, where nature laws should protect 751 00:55:19,320 --> 00:55:22,360 vulnerable species, it's a scandal. 752 00:55:22,360 --> 00:55:24,200 Italy is one of the worst offenders. 753 00:55:25,960 --> 00:55:28,320 In Albania, guns are in plentiful supply, 754 00:55:28,320 --> 00:55:32,960 and hunting was a huge threat, but then in 2014, the government 755 00:55:32,960 --> 00:55:36,600 here set an example to the rest of the Mediterranean and banned 756 00:55:36,600 --> 00:55:38,880 outright all hunting. 757 00:55:38,880 --> 00:55:42,280 What was life like here before the hunting ban? 758 00:55:53,880 --> 00:55:55,880 How important was the ban? 759 00:56:16,200 --> 00:56:17,440 They tried to bribe you? 760 00:56:20,720 --> 00:56:23,240 Very brave, and that's what it takes. 761 00:56:32,640 --> 00:56:33,880 Here, OK? 762 00:56:33,880 --> 00:56:34,880 OK. 763 00:56:37,760 --> 00:56:39,960 What's the reason for putting the buoys out? 764 00:56:50,280 --> 00:56:52,160 So, we are protecting the pelicans. 765 00:56:55,400 --> 00:56:56,440 OK. OK? 766 00:56:58,680 --> 00:56:59,880 Same on here. 767 00:56:59,880 --> 00:57:00,880 Here? 768 00:57:10,680 --> 00:57:14,600 The biggest battle to safeguard these wetlands may still lie ahead. 769 00:57:16,560 --> 00:57:20,800 Albania, naturally enough, wants a slice of the Med's massive 770 00:57:20,800 --> 00:57:23,920 tourist industry, with all the investment and jobs 771 00:57:23,920 --> 00:57:25,000 that go with it. 772 00:57:26,400 --> 00:57:31,480 There is a plan for a colossal resort to be built here, 773 00:57:31,680 --> 00:57:35,280 on a scale rarely seen around the Mediterranean. 774 00:57:35,280 --> 00:57:39,520 It would start roughly ten miles in that direction... 775 00:57:42,000 --> 00:57:45,600 ..and it will completely transform the national park. 776 00:57:48,680 --> 00:57:53,720 The future of Karavasta National Park is still to be decided, 777 00:57:53,720 --> 00:57:54,920 but there is hope. 778 00:57:57,200 --> 00:58:00,200 With its hunting ban, Albania has already shown 779 00:58:00,200 --> 00:58:03,240 it can take tough decisions to protect the environment, 780 00:58:03,240 --> 00:58:05,280 and the wonder of the Mediterranean. 781 00:58:08,160 --> 00:58:10,600 So, this is the end of the first part of my journey 782 00:58:10,600 --> 00:58:12,000 around the Mediterranean. 783 00:58:12,000 --> 00:58:15,640 Next time, I'll be starting in Cyprus, and heading on to Lebanon 784 00:58:15,640 --> 00:58:16,680 and the Middle East. 785 00:58:18,720 --> 00:58:21,120 I'll see the Med like never before... 786 00:58:21,120 --> 00:58:22,560 That's not where we're you going? 787 00:58:22,560 --> 00:58:24,280 Yes, we are going there. 788 00:58:24,280 --> 00:58:28,040 ..and discover a region enduring conflict and division. 789 00:58:28,040 --> 00:58:31,640 So, it's a fully active, combat-ready patrol? Yeah. 790 00:58:31,640 --> 00:58:34,960 Look at the barrier that encircles Gaza.