Customs at Schiphol Airport seized four suitcases containing 170,000 baby eels on Tuesday. Two people from Malaysia have been arrested.
The Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) is conducting further investigations.
Customs and the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee have taken the suitcases along with the NVWA. They contain 54 kilos of elvers. The baby eels were packed in plastic bags of water.
The four suitcases were among the luggage for a flight from the Netherlands to Malaysia. Because the contents of the suitcases were probably glassy, the NVWA was called in.
European eel is a critically endangered and therefore protected species. The import and export of European eel is therefore prohibited in the European Union.
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