Eels: Billion Dollar Babies - BBC World Service Documentaries

Описание: #BBCEye reveals how soaring global demand for eel has fuelled a vast illegal trade worth billions, exposing criminal networks, trafficking routes and controversial deals.

Click here to subscribe to our channel 👉🏽 https://bbc.in/3VyyriM

It’s the greatest wildlife crime you’ve never heard of. A multi-billion-dollar global criminal network smuggling a commodity that can be worth more than cocaine... The product? Eels.

Once a common sight in European rivers and a staple of traditional dishes, the European eel is now critically endangered. Since the 1980s its population has collapsed by 95%. Yet demand for the species has never been higher, particularly in Asia where eel is a prized delicacy and a cornerstone of a vast aquaculture industry.

To protect the species, Europe has banned the export of the European eel outside the continent. But the embargo is failing. A 2020 investigation in Hong Kong suggested that 45% of the eels on sale there were European — evidence that a huge black market is thriving.

This documentary uncovers the secretive networks moving tiny, translucent “glass eels” — juvenile eels worth thousands per kilogram — from Europe to Asia. Smuggled in suitcases, hidden in shipments and transported across borders by organised crime groups, the trade has become one of the most lucrative wildlife trafficking operations in the world.

With unprecedented access to Hong Kong triad members, the film reveals how criminal gangs move the eels from European rivers to Chinese fish farms. Smugglers describe the routes, the profits and the sophisticated logistics that allow the trade to continue despite international bans.

On the other side of the law is French customs officer Bruno Colin, who has spent years trying to stop the traffickers. As seizures increase and criminal networks adapt, Colin and his colleagues are locked in a high-stakes game of cat and mouse with smugglers moving millions of euros’ worth of eels.

The investigation also travels to the UK to meet Peter Wood — the country’s last glass eel trader. Wood insists he is operating legally and defends a controversial deal allowing him to export British eels to Russia, arguing that the trade supports conservation and livelihoods.

But not everyone is convinced. Investigative journalist Pawel Zastrzezynski believes he has uncovered evidence suggesting that Wood’s operation may be exploiting loopholes in regulations designed to protect the species.

Peter Wood denies that he or his staff have ever broken the law, that the Russian deal was purely for conservation, and says that his priority has always been to protect the European eel.

As the global demand for eels continues to soar, this film exposes the shadowy criminal networks, the contested legal trade and the fragile future of one of Europe’s most mysterious animals. Behind a dish of sushi lies a hidden story of organised crime, conservation battles and a species fighting for survival.

00:00 The biggest wildlife crime you’ve never heard of
02:30 The last glass eel trader in the UK
08:01 A controversial deal with Russia
10:25 Poland, Peter and Pawel
14:09 The mystery of the eel
16:20 The French operation
19:43 “A present from China”
20:56 Hong Kong
22:45: A multi-billion dollar business
25:23 Bruno’s breakthrough
27:12 “They are not looking where they should be looking”
29:10 Bruno and the Duke
32:27 “Cocaine of the sea”
34:19 A suitcase of eels
35:35 “I wouldn't be on peoples Christmas card list”
36:37 Goodfish
40:17 A new president
42:32 The Triad smuggling operation
45:19 Suspicions in France
47:33 Paweł and Ilya
50:11 Kaliningrad deal collapses
52:08 Payments from Russia
55:19 “Profit outweighs protection”

🎧 Listen to The Documentary podcast, Billion Dollar Babies, here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0n...

🎥 Watch more investigative journalism from our award-winning BBC Eye investigations team at this documentary playlist:    • BBC Eye Documentaries  

🎞 You may also be interested in watching these documentaries:
   • The Darkest Web: Inside the internet’s mos...  
   • Exposed: China’s growing hidden camera por...  
   • Wanted: The Interpol Files - BBC World Ser...  
   • Blood on the Shelves: The Secrets of Xinji...  
   • Rise of the Patriots: Hong Kong - BBC Worl...  

----------------
This is the official BBC World Service YouTube channel.
If you like what we do, you can also find us here:
Instagram 👉🏽   / bbcworldservice  
Twitter 👉🏽   / bbcworldservice  
Facebook 👉🏽   / bbcworldservice  
BBC World Service website 👉🏽 https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldserviceradio

Thanks for watching and subscribing!
#Documentary #Investigation #Eels #Wildlife #Sushi #BBCWorldService #WorldService