Three Moroccan nationals arrested in Spain for smuggling glass eels to Asia

Three Moroccans were arrested in Spain for belonging to a criminal network that smuggles glass eels to Asia, Associated Press reports Friday. Four Chinese citizens and three Spaniards were also arrested in the same operation which has been conducted in March by the European Union’s police body and revealed today.

The Spanish Civil Guard seized 460 kilograms of glass eels in southern Spain. They were intended to be sold for 400 million Euros, said the same source.

The network takes European glass eels to Asian countries where it is sold «expensively for the local cuisine», said the associated Press.

The operation revealed that the network exported the baby eels from Spain through Portugal then Morocco, where they were put in suitcases and cargo containers heading to Hong Kong, Mainland China, South Korea and other Asian countries.  

364 suitcases, probably used to smuggle the eels, were also seized by the Spanish police.

The eel is a long, thin bony fish of the order Anguilliformes, mainly ussed in the Asian cuisine.