Original subtitles

Hello and welcome to Global Eye from the BBC World Service.

In the next half an hour,

we'll bring you some of the best journalism

from our teams across the world.

I'm Rebecca Henschke from the BBC Eye investigation team

and I'm here in Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago

and one of the most biodiverse places on Earth.

It's home to rainforests,

vast coral reefs and thousands of species found nowhere else,

but this extraordinary natural wealth is under threat.

Later in the programme, the inside story of

an illegal trade worth billions of pounds a year.

But it's not drugs, weapons or diamonds.

BBC Eye exposes the smugglers trafficking huge quantities

of the so-called cocaine of the sea - baby eels.

And our forensic team will take you inside Tehran

as the city's residents live daily

under the shadow of sustained attack.

Using satellite imagery,

social media footage and first-hand accounts, we'll explore

the human cost of the war on the Iranian people.

Every year, hundreds of thousands

of tons of plastic washes up on beaches like this one.

Indonesia is facing a plastic waste management crisis.

I've lived and reported in Indonesia for over 15 years,

and returning this time I've been shocked by the scale of the problem.

Without proper waste management

or coordinated recycling from the government,

a huge amount of plastic is dumped

or ends up in the rivers - waterways like this one

that flow to the sea.

This time of year, the beginning of the rainy season,

when the rivers are flushed out,

is known in coastal communities like this one

as the rubbish season,

or musim sampah.

The impact is everywhere.

This beach here on the island of Lombok just littered with plastic.

And once it enters the ocean,

it breaks down into little pieces,

damaging the coral reefs, and gets eaten by turtles,

seabirds and fish.

Indonesia is now the world's second-worst

ocean plastic polluter after China.

Plastic from here is carried by ocean currents

to countries far from these shores,

making this a global problem.

A recent study found that rubbish from the rivers

in Java is reaching the coast of Africa in less than a year.

Community groups across Indonesia

are trying to clean up polluted rivers,

but say what's needed is urgent action

from business groups and the government.

Environmentalists want a ban on single-use plastics.

They say the burden shouldn't only be on consumers

to clean up the mess,

but also on the companies producing the plastic waste,

as now even uninhabited islands are affected.

Stefan's a school teacher on Komodo island,

home to the world's largest lizard, the Komodo dragon.

He teaches his students about the importance

of protecting their unique environment

and gets them involved in regular clean-ups like this one.

Videos of beaches in Bali

and a remote national park

in Java being hit by wave after wave

of plastic have been shared widely on social media,

sparking outcry here in Indonesia.

President Prabowo Subianto was forced to admit

the government needs to act.

Plastic waste is just one of

many environmental challenges facing Indonesia.

Another is the illegal trafficking of wildlife.

Animals are being captured, sold and smuggled.

Some are taken for the lucrative international pet trade,

others are trafficked for traditional medicine.

Animal rights groups say, to capture just one baby,

poachers often have to kill the mother

and sometimes other adults nearby.

Those animals that ARE rescued

are rehabilitated at centres like this one

and when ready, released back into the wild.

But with 17,000 islands, stopping the smuggling is challenging.

The port here in Surabaya, Indonesia's second largest city,

is a key hub for wildlife trafficking.

Shipping routes to the east of

the country and the rest of Asia make it

a major transit point for people wanting

to get animals from island to island and then out of the country.

Police regularly seize shipments of reptiles,

birds and endangered primates here.

They're often hidden in legal cargo,

kept in small containers.

Often dehydrated and injured,

many don't survive the journey.

In one recent case, police found over 400 birds and reptiles

inside a truck that was meant to be carrying mobile phones.

But animal rights activists say

corruption is undermining enforcement

and point to cases where members of the military

and the police have been arrested,

accused of involvement in the trade.

They say what's needed is not just the seizure of individual cargo,

but more effort to dismantle

the networks that allow this trade to continue.

This isn't just an Indonesian problem.

The global illegal wildlife trade is estimated

to be worth tens of billions of dollars every year.

And one of the most profitable creatures

is one that might surprise you - eels.

They're a popular dish in some parts of Asia,

and the smuggling of eels from Europe is big business.

Wild-caught baby eels are now one of

the most trafficked creatures in the world,

and European eels are critically endangered.

BBC Eye investigates the trade,

including from Britain, and the fight to stop it.

That tide's massive.

There's a seven-year cycle.

So from the Sargasso Sea,

up from when they spawn,

back to migration - seven years.

It's a living creature and an endangered species.

There's a lot of rumours around there that they go into countries

that they shouldn't be shipped to,

but we don't know as a fisherman

where their final destination goes.

And now it's all got a bit... too political, if you ask me.

And I don't do politics,

so I'd rather just go fishing,

be happy, catch fish and go home.

OK, so let's talk about yields.

All yields in aquaculture depend on wild-caught glass eels.

So here we talk about one of the biggest wildlife crimes

in the world, in terms of animals trafficked

as well as fraud value.

And the overall value of

that meat that is, well, at least what we assess

is illegally traded every year,

is worth 2 to 3 billion euros a year.

PHONE VIBRATES

For over a month, Iran has lived under the shadow

of sustained attacks from the US and Israel.

According to the government, over 1,000 civilians

have lost their lives.

The Iranian regime has moved to project strength,

tightening its control, silencing reporting,

and imposing an internet blackout.

But BBC Eye has been accessing information

from inside the capital, Tehran -

piecing together verified social media footage,

analysing satellite imagery,

and obtaining first-hand accounts from residents

in order to understand the human cost of this war

on the Iranian people.

Here's Nawal Al-Maghafi.

Our investigation starts in Resalat,

a residential neighbourhood in the eastern part of the capital.

This is the scene days after the attack.

What stood here is now gone.

Dozens of families lived in this building,

some still waiting for news of their loved ones

trapped beneath the rubble.

When we filmed, rescue efforts had been going on for three days.

For many, it was already too late.

In January, this neighbourhood was the scene of large protests

against the government.

Like elsewhere in Iran, the protests in Resalat were brutally crushed.

The notorious Basij militia, part of the Revolutionary Guard,

were blamed for killing thousands.

Across the country, at least 7,000 protesters were killed,

including more than 200 children.

On March 9th, at around 2.30,

this neighbourhood was struck by Israeli forces.

On WhatsApp, the IDF press office told us

they were targeting a military compound of the Iranian Basij.

We confirmed this building was indeed used by the Basij,

but that day, three other buildings

were also struck in quick succession.

On satellite imagery taken a few days after the strike,

we clearly see that all four have been obliterated.

Our team told us these three buildings were residential.

So did the Iranian Red Crescent.

Rescuers worked through the night to try and find survivors.

Local authorities and residents said at least 40 people were killed.

We've gathered as much available visual evidence as possible

from the scene while our team visited the site.

Our analysis shows that apartments

as far as 65m away were heavily damaged.

We found people trying to salvage

whatever they could from the wreckage.

Ali - not his real name - lived in a building within the blast zone.

He'd just stepped out when the first strike hit.

So why was the damage so extensive?

Military experts told us this type of bomb

is being deployed in Tehran by the Israeli Air Force.

The Mark 80 Series are carried by jets and are often fitted

with precision guidance systems.

The damage in this case appears to be consistent

with the largest bomb, weighing 2,000lbs.

Some unexploded ones have been photographed in Tehran.

The bombardment here has been intense.

In the silence imposed by the government's internet blackout,

these images are rare, but they are vital to understand

what's unfolding on the ground.

The IDF says it's deployed 3,600 munitions

on the city since February 28th, hitting a huge range of targets,

including police stations, checkpoints and Basij bases.

Many targets are embedded in densely populated areas across the city.

We've gathered available data on these targets.

It shows that at least 38 police stations and Basij sites were hit

in between February 28th and March 19th.

One of these strikes was just a few kilometres from Resalat,

in Nilufar Square, the scene of another deadly attack.

On the 1st of March, an Israeli strike

hit the Abbasabad police station here.

It was around nine in the evening,

a time of gathering after families had broken their Ramadan fast.

Instead, there was chaos.

On a satellite picture of the area taken after the strike,

we've been able to map out the extent of the damage

to the surrounding area. Like the previous case,

the blast zone was far wider than the target.

We don't know how many civilians died at this site,

but eyewitnesses told us it was around 20.

We were told many families were made homeless.

Human rights groups say more than 1,400 civilians

have been killed so far.

The US and Israel say by targeting

police and Basij installations,

they're preparing the ground for the Iranian people

to overthrow the government.

Finally, to the great, proud people of Iran,

I say tonight that the hour of your freedom is at hand.

But people in Iran are facing two threats -

one from the air and another on the ground.

It seems the regime is just tightening its grip,

and has not been shaken.

Iranian state media has been broadcasting images like these -

too graphic for us to show you.

In this report from Resalat Square, the reporter describes the scene as

"what America's support for Iran looks like".

There's no mention of the nearby Basij building that was targeted.

Instead, they focused solely on the residential buildings that were hit.

We spoke to two international humanitarian law experts

about the incidents we've examined.

They told us Israel and the US have a legal obligation

not to use disproportionate force

when targeting areas where civilians are present.

Under international humanitarian law,

they must also distinguish between civilian and military targets.

Not doing so could be unlawful.

Thanks for joining me in Indonesia. We want your feedback on Global Eye,

so please let us know what you think on social media,

using the hashtag...

We'll be back next week. Goodbye.