Europol cracks down on lucrative glass eel black market
Glass eels are only a few inches long and are almost transparent. On the black market, they are more expensive than caviar. In recent months, police in southern Europe have confiscated as much as 5 tonnes of these fish!
The mass catching of young glass eels off the coasts of Spain and France has posed a significant threat to the existence of the entire species. As a result, the European Union has introduced stringent quotas and a ban on exporting these fish.
A kilogram of glass eels in Asia costs €6,000 (£5,000). They are still being illegally caught. By comparison, the price of cannabis or caviar ranges between €2,200 (£1,800) and €4,900 (£4,100) per kilogram.
The trafficking of glass eels is a multifaceted crime, as it involves environmental crime, human health crime, trade in endangered species, document fraud, tax evasion, and also money laundering, explains Europol.
The authorities are closely monitoring suspicious individuals. Meanwhile, more and more smugglers are being caught in their traps.
In recent months, 5 tonnes of glass eels have been confiscated, and over the past seven years, this has amounted to as much as 87 tonnes. Their black market value exceeds half a billion euros! Investigators have arrested 850 suspects, reports "Bild".
Glass eels: What is worth knowing about them?
Glass eels are a juvenile stage of the European eel (Anguilla anguilla), characterised by their transparent bodies, hence their name. They are young eels that hatch in the Sargasso Sea (to the west of Bermuda) and undertake a long migration across the Atlantic Ocean to the coasts of Europe and North Africa. During this journey, they are in a larval stage (known as leptocephalus), and when they reach freshwater rivers and lakes, they transition to the so-called "glass" stage, which is transparent.
Glass eels are very small, reaching only a few inches in length, and their bodies are almost completely transparent, which helps them survive in the aquatic environment. As they mature and migrate to freshwater, they gradually become darker and take on the more typical appearance of adult eels.
