An elver of Anguilla anguilla. JELGER HERDER/BUITEN-BEELD/BIOSPHOTO
According to several experts, this trade now brings in even more than hard drugs: The trafficking of elvers – juvenile eels that weigh only a few tenths of a gram – is entirely illegal but thriving. At the end of July, the Correctional Court in Brussels sentenced 10 members of an "eel mafia" to prison terms: nine were Asian nationals, and one was a Belgian-Moroccan. All belonged to a European network involved in the sale of this endangered wild species, whose black market price now fluctuates between €3,000 and €9,000 per kilogram.
Fattened in Asia in aquaculture farms until they are ready for sale and consumption, these fish represent a highly profitable market in that part of the world, where eel is believed to offer not only culinary delights but also energizing properties – it was, for example, featured on samurai menus.
In April 2023, police in Antwerp were astonished to discover 150 kilograms of elvers in two tanks supplied by a pump. Two months earlier, six travelers had been intercepted at Brussels Airport: They had checked in 18 large identical suitcases bound for Doha, Qatar and then Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Inside were bags of chilled water containing dozens of kilograms of Anguilla anguilla fry, the European eel.
