• A network of trafficking in glass eels, a protected species, was dismantled and gave rise to around ten arrests in France and Spain.

  • The network would have exported 46 tonnes of these eel fry for a profit estimated to date at 18.5 million euros.

  • International cooperation was necessary to carry out this operation, which required four years of investigations.

Demand for European eel has exploded in South-East Asia, after the virtual disappearance of the Asian eel linked to its overfishing. Taking advantage of this appetite, a network of traffickers exploited the vein for years, exporting 46 tonnes of glass eels to Asia for a value of 18.5 million euros. It has just been dismantled and resulted in the indictment of a dozen people, in France and Spain, the national gendarmerie announced on Friday in a press release. In thirty years, the population of European eels has fallen by 75%. These illegal fisheries contribute to the decline of this species, considered endangered since the 2000s.

These are two seizures by customs that will put investigators on the trail of the network.

In 2017, customs officials at Arcachon and Roissy seized respectively 792 kg gross of glass eels intended for illegal export to China and 200 kg of contraband glass eels bound for Thailand.

The investigation has been carried out for four years by the customs of Bordeaux and the Central Office for the fight against attacks on the environment and public health (Oclaesp).

Sold for 3,000 to 4,000 euros per kg in Asia

The merchandise was intended to be exported illegally to China and Thailand, where the glass eels are aptly named "white gold" since they sell for between 3,000 and 4,000 euros per kg on the black market, multiplying by ten the selling price in Europe.

"Police cooperation at European level, via Europol, was also


decisive in apprehending this international trafficking", argues the press release which highlights the many overlaps necessary in this investigation.

The judicial customs of Bordeaux establish that the same network of traffickers is hiding behind these two seizures and join their investigations to those of Oclaesp and the nautical brigade of Saintes (Charentes Maritime) who are also working on this traffic.

The investigation group discovers that the glass eels collected by French wholesalers are transported to Spain and then "forwarded to Asian countries with a strong demand for this product, notably via logistics platforms set up in Eastern countries (Romania). , Bulgaria, Poland) ”, details the gendarmerie.

The money laundering mechanism has been updated and in particular the use of shell companies created in Europe and in tax havens (Ireland, Panama), the complicity of companies established in China and Thailand and the use of retrocommissions through contracts. on operations between Africa and Asia.

Nine French wholesalers and intermediaries were indicted in September 2019 then, this year, the Spanish managers of a transport company as well as one of the main instigators, also Spanish.

Planet

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Bordeaux

Bordeaux: Three Chinese sentenced to prison for trafficking in glass eel

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