>> hello and a very warm welcome to "european journal," coming to you from dw studios in brussels. it's good to have you with us. here's what we have for you today -- ukraine -- how russian fighters may be involved in the conflict. italy -- where mafia bosses are hiding from the police. and bulgaria -- the new fence of fortress europe.

why exactly did flight mh 17 crash in eastern ukraine? the united nations suspects it could have been a war crime, but there are still too little information as to how exactly the plane crashed. western politicians are convinced that pro-russian separatists shot it down. there's a desperate need for thorough investigation, but that has not been easy. accessing the crash site area has been too dangerous or investigators because of ongoing fighting because -- between rebels and the ukrainian army. there is outrage around the world and especially the netherlands. 193 of the crash victims were dutch citizens. >> remains from the downed malaysian airlines flight are taken to a military complex. for in six specialists are working to establish the identities of the dead passengers. dutch people continue to lay down flowers. the entire nation is up in arms over what is seen as the

shockingly slow and disorderly investigation. >> you cannot take the rings off the victims' fingers and steal their bank cards. this reminds me of 1940 to 1945. dead bodies piled up in trucks. images we will never forget. >> the sanctions against russia should be much more severe. there should be sanctions against putin. what putin is now doing is unjustifiable. it is just murder. >> the growing anger in the netherlands has found an outlet in social media, especially twitter. that has prompted a well-known journalist and blogger to analyze the reactions of his fellow dutch citizens. many tweets call for an immediate military intervention. >> your neighbors could have been on the plane, your nephew.

everybody was touched by it and in a way hit by it, so this brought out anger, and twitter is an easy way to do it. you do not always need to think first before you send out a tweet. >> tweets included calls for vladimir putin's. or, who has been living in the netherlands with her dutch boyfriend, to be deported -- vladimir putin's daughter to be deported. maria putin, who reportedly owns this penthouse, left a day after the plane came down according to neighbors. tweets about protests in front of the house proved to be m.d. threats as people realized the young woman could hardly be responsible for the disaster, but the mood in the country is that someone should be made accountable. that is important to the

families of the victims, says an organization that is helping many of them. 190 three dutch citizens killed in a single belligerent act -- a unique situation for the netherlands. >> it makes a lot of difference to the relatives who will be finally held responsible for what has happened. they are, of course, very much interested in this. they want to know as soon as possible. was difficult for them is that it will take time -- maybe a lot of time -- until it becomes totally clear who is responsible. >> the individual tragedies have dominated media reports. one of the victims was a distinguished aids researcher and treatment pioneer. his colleagues at amsterdam university expressed sorrow and dismay. >> it had a big impact on me personally.

we were really, as they say, standing on his shoulders. suddenly, his shoulders are not there anymore, so it is a big loss. >> in a number of other passengers were on their way to end aids conference in melbourne. their debt has been a huge blow for scientists and hiv activists around the world -- their death. each day has brought more details to light, and that has increased the pressure on the dutch government to show more back of and demand tougher eu sanctions against russia. >> there's another task for the government, also, to explain to the people very clearly that that is something that will have to be shared at the national level, and that everybody may suffer a little bit. >> above all, people in the netherlands want an investigation, and they want

clarity as to who shot down the plane. >> they should be extremely punished. there is no other solution. we will not get the people back anyway. in this case, we need to catch the people who were responsible so that they will never do it again. >> the netherlands has 17 million inhabitants, and although not everyone was personally acquainted with one of the victims, the feeling is that everyone in the country has been touched by the tragedy. >> we are here for the people who died in for their relatives, but we are also here a little bit for ourselves, to prepare ourselves, because we are flying the same route. >> the masses of flowers was supposed to be clear today. now officials have decided to create a permanent memorial at the public expressions of sorrow and anger continue unabated.

>> the west has two demands -- those responsible for the crash must be held accountable, and the russian government has to stop supporting the separatists morley and with weapons. russian president vladimir putin vehemently denies any kind of involvement. still, in the east of the country where the crash site is, more and more heavy weaponry is being used. so who is telling the truth? are the separatists supported by moscow? we sent our reporter to search for clues, and he first went to slovyansk, which is under ukrainian control again. >> where the earth has recently been leveled, there used to be a mass grave, right next to the war memorial. this resident tells us how last week, ukrainian authorities exhumed over a dozen bodies. the city was occupied by pro-russian rebels until july.

the night before they left, the rebels hastily buried their dead . most were russians. >> 21st of them fell, their bodies were laced in good coffins and sent to russia, not buried here. they gave the bodies of the local fighters back to their families. they were celebrated as martyrs who died for the people's republic. >> but other slippery on scrivens tell us soon the rebels started burying their dead next to checkpoints where fighting is still raging -- but other slovyasnk residents tell us. many believe the fighters came from russia. the kremlin denies that and says it only wants to mediate peace, but at the same time, radical fighters in moscow continue to recruit willing fighters.

this man and fellow recruiters work as volunteers. their work is partly funded by donations. everyone here knows some fighters come back and coffins, but they believe it was a historical mistake that this ended up as part of ukraine. they see themselves as liberators. so far, just a few dozen volunteers have been sent to fight, but there are allegedly thousands of russians who want to join them. some with combat experience in afghanistan or chechnya. >> combat specialists and also doctors are very important. those are the people we need the most urgently, but we except everyone. during a war, you can learn in two weeks what it would take six months to a year to learn in times of these. we now have enough people there who can help show newcomers the ropes and get them fit for combat as quickly as possible.

>> british correspondent harriet salem has long suspected russians were among the rebels and not just in leadership ranks, but she could not prove it. then, in may, this happened. rebels asked her and her colleagues to accompany the convoy turkey -- taking 30 dead fighters back to their homeland, russia. >> seemed to be a turning point, a game changer. it was out in the open that there were russian fighters. the real issue now is about who these people are, whether they are mercenaries, whether they are patriots that have come here to fight for the cause. and it's also a question about numbers. the authorities here have been very keen to downplay their numbers. some people suspect there are a lot more than they admit to.

>> kiev calls the fighters terrorists and accuses russia of having fueled the conflict from the start. his military expert says even after the malaysia airlines passenger jet was shot down, moscow continue to supply fighters with heavy weapons. he says that videos shot by residents and posted on youtube prove that. the pro-russian rebels say those weapons, which are russian-made, were confiscated from ukrainian units during combat, but some say the weapons in question are of a type that russia no longer deliveries to ukraine. >> the key thing is the efficacy of the weapons. these weapons are much more effective than their predecessor models, and that can only mean russia is delivering these weapons directly to the

terrorist groups in eastern ukraine. >> those weapons were evidently not effective enough as the ukrainian army was able to liberate the city. but the suffering continues. many are still missing family members. the rebels were determined to hold the city against the ukrainian army as long as possible at whatever cost. >> they had nowhere to go. their leaders chose this place specially to bury their dead so that if they are returned in the event that the self proclaimed donetsk ended up winning, this place would become a war monument. >> ukrainian officials believe that there are many other masquerades in slowdowns and other cities -- in slovyansk

and other cities. >> let's talk big is this. 53 billion euros in annual sales -- roughly 70 billion u.s. dollars -- operations in europe, the americas, and australia. if it were a normally family business, you would probably call it a huge success story, but it is a mafia organization, and its bosses operate from secret hideouts. those bunkers are tolerated by local villages because of the traditional vow of secrecy. still, sometimes italian authorities strike a major blow. >> every officer here knows just what to do. each is a veteran of dozens of arrest rates. they are all professionals. this time, they are going after a mafia hitman. they cannot afford to make mistakes.

at the same moment, nearly 1000 kilometers away, police will apprehend the police man's cousin. the killers cannot be allowed a chance to warn each other. at 3:00 in the morning, an elite swat team moves out. they are hardened men who know what they are up against. >> now we are going to arrest their cousins. while we are at it, we will thoroughly search the place as a precaution. >> they proceed with hardly a sound, catching the hitman asleep in his bed. he served 20 years for murder and got out of prison only last year. almost immediately, he and his cousin put out a contract on someone's life, enough for

another 20 years in prison each. this might be just another sleepy port town if it were not by the regular headlines made by the crime syndicate. several clans virtually run the town. the syndicate is europe's biggest cocaine smuggling ring. >> for a long time, they and their brutal crimes -- murder, and arms and drug dealing -- were treated as a local phenomenon. new investigations have now exposed what had long gone unnoticed -- that it is powerful enough to infiltrate the legitimate economy. for now, that is the greatest threat. >> they're currently thought to have around 60,000 members operating in some 30 countries.

revenues are estimated at some 53 billion euros, making it europe's most powerful crime syndicate by far. from the coast, it's about an hours drive up. mountains in every direction with a few villages tucked in between. this is a stronghold where bosses on the run come to hide. the seller of an unfinished house had a concealed boar in the wall. they demonstrate how part of the wall can roll backwards on rails , exposing the entrance to a bunker.

this mafia boss hid out here until he was arrested. a police video shows how ingeniously the hideout was camouflaged. the arrest was a minor victory, as nobody knows how many other bunkers exist. this bunker was used by giuseppe aquino, one of italy's most wanted mafiosi. this was long thought to be a loose network of families until images are captured that proved otherwise. in early september, thousands of pilgrims came to see the madonna. mingling among them are the dons coming to elect their leaders.

and amounts to a board meeting of a multibillion euro criminal empire. >> there's a rule -- the jobs are not just handed out. they are assigned twice a year, and we have to do all that together. it is not one person alone. it is all of us. all of us together make it up. >> san luca, just a few kilometers away. 4000 people live here now. 500 of them are known to be members of the syndicate. some say probably more. there is little outward sign of the wealth and power based here. >> the advantage the san luca drug dealers have over others is they can buy narcotics from the colombians on credit, and we are not talking about one or two

kilos. we are talking about hundreds of kilos of cocaine. that shows that they are heavyweights internationally. >> pessimists claim it's too late to stop the mafia. optimists say it can still be done, given 50 years or so. >> europe is beginning to really feel the impact of the brutal wars in syria and in iraq. more and more people are trying to escape the violence and are heading to the west hoping to find shelter in the european union, but the eu has essentially sealed off the route via the mediterranean sea i stepping up patrols, and the land route has also just come more difficult. bulgaria is the eu's poorest country, and ishares 270

kilometers of border with turkey, and bulgaria has just directed a 30-kilometer razor wire fence. >> a new source of iron curtain has extended across europe. its purpose is to keep people out. people seeking refuge in the eu. people like these kurds from northern syria. they have been living in bulgaria for almost a year now. they escaped war and violence and landed in abject poverty. >> children could not sleep that night. we've got too many things. >> bulgaria, the poorest european union member, does not have the money to handle the influx.

it's lunchtime at a refugee camp on the outskirts of the capital. according to the you guidelines, more meals are to be provided to all refugees within the eu, but bulgaria simply does not have the resources, even if conditions are improving. >> a year ago, we did not have hot meals. now we have hot meals. the difference is tremendous. >> this old school is being thoroughly renovated. soon it will have a kitchen of its own, some small consolation for the refugees here. he hopes to come to germany or somewhere else in western europe like most of his fellow refugees, but he can only do so illegally. this volunteer program coordinator has to explain that this is the only way refugees

have been able to make it to the west. >> they say that there are approximately 200 people now in this camp. there used to be over 800. now everybody wants to go. they want to be free to travel. >> eu legislation states that all refugees must remain in the first eu country they enter, but that lays -- laces the greatest burden on the countries along the land borders, so bulgaria has little motivation to stop refugees from heading west illegally, but it is highly motivated to stem the inward flow of refugees, as here near the borders to greece and turkey. the marshall at the bulgarian border post here as patrolmen who intercept most of the refugees sneaking across from turkey.

>> the most active time is usually just after dawn. under cover of darkness, they moved to the border and cross at don, but, of course, this is not a good strategy. our cameras can see everything during the day and night. >> the eu provided millions of euros to help old area secure its border. much of it went for this high-tech fortification. the cameras keep a close watch on every meter of the border with the non-du member turkey. one way to deal with the crisis -- in july, bulgaria completed the primary component of its border surveillance system -- a fence topped with razor wire. it took nine months to put up a 30-kilometer-long, three-meter-high fence.

25 years ago, the iron curtain was torn down. >> this has nothing to do with the iron curtain. only a facility at 30 kilometers on the border between bulgaria and turkey. >> a very effective facility. now it is virtually impossible for anyone to make it through this section of the border. in this rugged terrain, refugees used to be able to hide. both gary and border patrol men stand ready to stop anyone trying to go around the fence. all routes across the border are sealed. trailer trucks are also searched for people trying to sneak across the border. a high-tech device is used to analyze the air for traces of the presence of human beings.

traffickers take upwards of 1000 euros for each person they smuggled across the border to bulgaria. the fence is likely to drive the prices up. to get to the west costs twice as much if they do not get caught here. he feels like he is caught in limbo, not allowed to travel on to his relatives in western europe but not welcome in bulgaria. >> they tell us to go from here. they say to us, "go from here." they make too much trouble for us. >> the western eu members are now rethinking the policy of sending illegal refugees back to bulgaria. some -- even a few who have already been sent back here -- may soon possibly be legally heading west. >> that report wraps up this edition of "european journal." from all of us here in brussels, thank you very much for

watching. until next time, auf wiedersehen and bye for now. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--

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