On Thursday, an French court handed down prison terms ranging from one to five years to eight individuals involved in smuggling baby eels bound for Asia. Prosecutors estimated the illegal operation’s value at more than $2 million and compared it to drug trafficking, specifically mentioning cocaine.
The see-through larvae of the European eel, which are caught in the Atlantic Ocean and frequently exported to Asian markets, are considered an endangered species, and their trade has been banned.
The Créteil court near Paris handed down the maximum sentence of five years in prison to two men who had previous incarcerations.
The two defendants who faced longer prison terms went missing, whereas the remaining four received lesser sentences.
The prosecutor stated during the trial that this case is "unusual because of both the large amounts confiscated and the exceptionally detailed nature of the investigation." They drew a parallel between the smuggling of larvae and cocaine.
A prosecuting attorney likened eel larvae to "contraband items whose worth escalates with every border crossing, similar to cocaine."
The core of this matter involved the confiscation in February 2023 at an underground facility south-east of Paris within the Val-de-Marne department of over 300 kilograms (660 pounds) of glass eel larvae.
This was nearly twice the total quantity — 154 kilograms — confiscated by French customs for the entire year of 2024.
The illegal trafficking of European eels, which have been safeguarded under an international agreement since 2009, has contributed to a 75 percent decrease in their population over the last three decades.
In France, fishing activities are closely controlled and adhere to stringent catch limits.
The worth of the larvae found in France in the case was assessed by investigators to be between 1.7 and 2.1 million euros ($1.9 to $2.3 million).
The eels — referred to as glass eels during this phase of their life cycle — sell for approximately $2,200 per kilogram once they are smuggled into Asian markets. according to NOAA .
Young eels, known as elvers, frequently are sold to fish farming businesses in Asia to reach maturity and then be sold into the profitable Japanese restaurant industry, where they are typically prepared as grilled dishes.
In November, two individuals were handed prison terms as punishment for illegally smuggling live eels From Puerto Rico approximately nine months following the identification and interception of the two suspects by U.S. Customs and Border Protection along with the U.S. Coast Guard.
The Associated Press provided contributions to this report.
