A man and a woman were arrested at Charles de Gaulle airport on charges of plotting to smuggle 60 kg of eel live in China.

The two Chinese citizens, including a 20-year-old woman and a 43-year-old man, were arrested at the Charles de Gaulle Stadium in Paris on October 28, preparing to fly home, a spokesman for the city court. Bobigny said yesterday. They hide the young eels in their luggage with specially constructed bins, equipped with a mini refrigeration device.

Two suspects have been sentenced to 10 months in prison and fined more than $ 8,000 each for allegedly plotting to smuggle a baby eel out of France. A court spokesman said a third Chinese citizen fled the airport when he was discovered and left a suitcase containing another 30 kilograms of live eel.

The total value of eel when brought back to sell in China is more than 200,000 USD. They have been handed over by the customs to an organization dedicated to protecting these animals.

One kilogram of European eel can cost as much as US $ 5,500 in China. High profits have caused eel smuggling to increase in recent years, with about 15 million children confiscated in European Union (EU) countries in 2018, an increase of 50% compared to the previous year, almost mostly in Spain, France and Portugal, according to the European police organization Europol.

Japan used to be the main source of eel in Asia, but the number of eels in this country has decreased significantly due to overfishing, which has led to an increase in the situation of European eel smuggling. Eels have been listed as endangered animals in Europe since 2009 and in 2010, the EU has banned all export of eel.

Europol estimates that each year about 300-350 million eels are smuggled from Europe to Asia, creating a trade worth about 3.3 billion USD.

"European eel smuggling is the largest wildlife-related crime in the world in terms of both transactional individuals and market value," said Andrew Kerr, president of the Eel Group, a conservation organization. Non-governmental, said and added that this activity affects about 25% of European eels.