A BBC journalist was threatened with abduction and even having his genitals chopped off as he confronted a violent gang leader while filming a documentary in Venezuela.

In Ben Zand's BBC iPlayer series The World's Most Dangerous Cities, he travelled to Caracas where he met the leader of a feared 'Colectivo' gang set up by the late president Hugo Chavez to protect socialism.

The Iranian-British journalist and filmmaker from Liverpool asked the commander Robert a question about Chavez, and he fumed at the journalist before miming a knife-cutting action.

Ben told the cameras: 'He's going to cut my penis off.'

In another encounter with a kidnap gang who boasted of killing 14-year-old girls,  members also warned Ben that he was worth taking hostage for a ransom, leaving him in fear that he wouldn't make it out of the country.

'I was nervous, kidnapping was a common theme and I wasn't sure I was going to be making it back,' he said, admitting it was one of the scariest interviews of his life.

The country is in economic and political turmoil with hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans already having fled the country, where food and medicine are in very short supply and crime is out of control.

It's become nearly impossible to enter Venezuela as a journalist so Ben, 27,  sneaked in on a tourist visa to interview the leader of one of the Colectivos, the powerful 'January 23rd' community in Caracas, where he was confronted with bodies lying on the streets.

Meeting the leader Robert, who claimed he was just a builder and spokesman, he asked whether Chavez's leadership was responsible for the country's current plight.

But the question didn't go down well and the leader, who became agitated: 'Of course Chavez has had a negative impact on capitalist society.

'Caracas will be dangerous for as long as wild capitalism is allowed off its leash. It is possible you are here to try and antagonise us.'

'We regard the BBC to be an antagonist of the interests of the commune because they are constantly seeking to present a line that is all about crimes,' Robert continued before knocking the camera signalling the end of the interview.

Ben also went to interview a killer kidnap gang, but the crew had their phones, watches and cameras taken away from them to keep the gang's location secret.

'We were taken to a house on the back of motorbikes. Searched at gunpoint for tracking devices and told we had ten minutes to film,' Ben said.

The men, who had their faces covered in bandannas during their meeting with the documentary maker, waved their guns around and threatened the cameras for getting too close.

Worried that he looked 'devious' like a police officer, Ben had to reassure them that he was just a reporter.

The masked man then sneeringly said: 'A journalist, that's better for us to kidnap you.'

They explained to Ben exactly how they would carry out a kidnap saying that businessmen can fetch them between $1,000 to $2,000 ransom money depending on how rich they are.

'First we study them for two or three weeks, then we get a car and snatch them up.

'Then we tie them up and ask for the ransom, it depends how rich the businessman is, Ksh 100,000 or Ksh200,000.' 

One of the gang members said of the reasons he carries out the crime: 'In order to survive you have do it using this [holds up gun], this is our way.

'This is how we get food for our families. By dealing drugs and kidnapping. I've killed fourteen-year-old girls, fifteen-year-olds. Whoever messes with us, we will kill them.'

Ben asked them what it feels like to kill somebody and they said: 'At the start you are gonna get upset, you'll be scared but eventually it becomes routine.

'This is our life, there is nothing else you can turn to.'

Afterwards Ben said: 'I was pretty shaken after the trip, the interview with the gang was one of the scariest I've done.' 

Ben visits Caracas in the first episode of World's Most Dangerous Cities with Ben Zand, available on BBC iPlayer now .