Gangs in Haiti are profiting from a lucrative trade in baby eels caught in the crime-ridden country’s rivers and estuaries and sold abroad for thousands of dollars.

Demand for the worm-like creatures with dots for eyes comes largely from Asia and is filling the coffers of the criminal organizations terrorizing Haiti, experts warn.

Known in Haitian creole as “Zangi,” the glass eels drift each year from the Sargasso Sea in the North Atlantic to the ocean’s coasts — including along the coasts of the island of Hispaniola, shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

They infiltrate the rivers where they grow until they return to sea to reproduce.

The global trade of European eels has been strictly controlled since 2009 by the CITES convention on endangered species, but the trade of American

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