Romania has emerged as a significant but under-scrutinised hub in the global illegal wildlife trade, serving both as a source country and transit point for high-value endangered species. Despite major incidents – including 1.2 tons of pangolin scales from the Democratic Republic of Congo seized in Turkey while en route to Romania, and 700 kg of critically endangered European glass eels worth over one million euros shipped from Romania to Thailand – Romanian authorities reported just two wildlife product confiscations in 2018 and claim no registered cases between 2018-2020. This stark enforcement gap is particularly notable when compared to neighbouring countries like Poland, which made dozens of seizures along its Ukrainian border during the same period. Conservation experts attribute Romania's minimal detection rates to potential lack of training among officials, difficulties in species identification, and possibly insufficient prioritisation of wildlife crimes, creating an enforcement blind spot that traffickers appear to be exploiting to move wildlife products from Africa and Eastern Europe to lucrative Asian markets.