BBC Eye exposes glass eel smuggling network linking Hong Kong triads to Europe
A BBC Eye investigation reveals how Hong Kong triads smuggle critically endangered European glass eels worth billions, calling them "cocaine of the sea".
Hong Kong triads exploit endangered glass eels in multi-billion-dollar smuggling trade
A new BBC Eye investigation has uncovered a vast criminal network profiting from the illegal trafficking of European glass eels — a trade that rivals the value of illicit drugs and is driving a critically endangered species closer to extinction.
The documentary, Billion Dollar Babies, available on iPlayer and the BBC World Service YouTube channel, gains exclusive access to members of a Hong Kong triad actively involved in smuggling juvenile glass eels from Europe to Asia. As bbc.co.uk reports, the gangs themselves refer to the trade as "cocaine of the sea."
A species on the brink
Once found in abundance across European rivers, the European eel is now critically endangered. Since the 1980s, its population has fallen by ninety-five percent. Yet demand — particularly in Asia, where eel is a prized delicacy and central to a large aquaculture industry — has never been higher.
The species cannot be bred in captivity, meaning the entire trade depends on glass eels caught in the wild. European eels are believed to be born in the Sargasso Sea, travelling thousands of miles to mature in European rivers before migrating back across the Atlantic to reproduce and die. In the UK, the River Severn remains one of the few places where glass eels can still be found in significant numbers.
Nearly twenty years ago, a European-wide ban on exports outside the continent was introduced to protect the species. That ban, rather than ending demand, drove the trade underground.
"High profits and low risks"
BBC Eye spoke directly with a Hong Kong triad member who goes by the nickname Little Di, known to associates as Elder Brother. He was candid about why the eel trade has become so attractive to organised crime.
"Smuggling eels offers high profits and low risks," he told BBC Eye. "As for drug smuggling: if you get caught, you'll be sentenced for life, if not executed. With eels you are just smuggling food, it's not a serious crime. It's a few years [in jail] and your goods confiscated. After a few years you're out and can start doing it again."
Little Di described the broader criminal landscape in Hong Kong before explaining his gang's focus on smuggling. "The areas of activity of all Hong Kong's gangs are very similar: sex industry, gambling, drugs. The more profitable, the more people will do it. In terms of scale, we are the largest, and we are mainly involved in smuggling."
A second triad member provided further operational detail. "Just one small glass eel is worth around 2 to 3 dollars," he said. "We smuggle 500 to 200 kilos at a time. During peak season we usually make around 2 or 3 deliveries a week. At 9 or 10 pm a brother from Mainland China tells us when to begin. No mobile phones allowed. We normally wait for the tide to rise in the early morning."
The logistics, he explained, are well-organised. Large ships equipped with facilities to keep the eels alive wait offshore while speedboats ferry the cargo out. "With the neighbouring gang we have six teams, which is enough to run the entire European eel smuggling operation," he said.
A British trader at the centre
BBC Eye also spoke with Peter Wood, a British eel trader who has been exporting baby eels internationally for more than fifty years, buying from a network of local fishermen. His case raises separate but significant questions about the legal trade.
In 2021, Wood struck a controversial deal with Russia. With key Asian markets long prohibited and the EU no longer buying from the UK following Brexit, Russia presented what he considered a viable alternative. For three years, the UK government granted Wood an export licence for up to three million glass eels, destined for a conservation project run by a Kaliningrad-based company called Goodfish — despite most UK trade with Russia facing sanctions at the time.
BBC Eye's investigation into Goodfish found that one of its owners may hold commercial interests in the eel industry beyond conservation. The owner has companies directly connected to the fish industry and the sale of eel products for consumption. Goodfish told BBC Eye that all eels purchased from Wood were strictly for conservation purposes and that its consumable eel products were non-European species, adding there was no conflict of interest.
In 2025, the UK government revoked Wood's export licence to Russia.
"The UK government has stopped all our exports to Kaliningrad because of the Russian war against Ukraine," Wood told BBC Eye. "This had huge negative consequences. This fishery we've been running here for 50 years will be closed and staff will lose their jobs. If we don't survive, the eel becomes a sort of museum piece."
Wood maintains his exports to Russia were part of a legitimate state conservation project and that his trades had always attracted controversy. He currently continues restocking operations within Europe, with Poland and Lithuania as his key markets. "It's a really bizarre situation that Poland can stock but Kaliningrad is unable to stock," he said. "It's too early to give up the fight. Too early to close the business."
Wood told BBC Eye he denies all allegations of illegal trade and that the Russia arrangement had no connection to funding Moscow's war in Ukraine.
International protections, limited enforcement
The European eel's collapse has brought it under international wildlife protection laws. Regulations within Europe permit trading, but require that the majority of glass eels be directed into conservation projects aimed at restocking populations. Enforcement, however, remains inconsistent — a gap that criminal networks have exploited with apparent ease.
BBC Eye: Billion Dollar Babies is available to stream on BBC iPlayer and the BBC World Service YouTube channel.
Source: The Sun