They illegally imported small dog puppies from Slovakia, sold with false documents, without vaccinations and with diseases that caused their death a few days after purchase. An illegal trafficking of thousands of specimens discovered and dismantled by the Rimini border police who carried out seven precautionary measures, including three European arrest warrants, and 13 local and house searches. In prison in Nitra (Slovakia) a 33-year-old man and his 54-year-old mother, linked to a 64-year-old Italian arrested in Loano (Savona). According to the police, the three are the leaders of the group that marketed puppies on the internet for profits of around one million euros in a year. Also in prison were a 33-year-old animal trader from Rimini and a 45-year-old Neapolitan who provided false documents for transport and sale. A collaborator of the group, a 36-year-old girl from Cesenatico, who answered questions from buyers on the internet, and a 60-year-old trader from Santarcangelo, stopped yesterday morning at Bologna airport on his way back from a trip to Spain, are under house arrest. Eight suspects are at large, including the owner of an illegal kennel, 41 years old from Naples, in Villaricca (Naples). The investigation, called ‘Luxury Dog’, coordinated by the prosecutor Elisabetta Melotti and her deputy Paola Bonetti, began last year after complaints from around forty owners of puppies purchased on the internet and who died a few days after delivery. Border Police, Rimini flying squad, with the collaboration of the International Police Cooperation Service, Sirene, two EnFast Teams (European Network of Active Fugitive Search Units) and the flying squads of Milan, Alessandria, Bergamo, Savona, Naples, assisted by the ecozoophile guards of ‘Fare Ambiente’, they have therefore identified the members of the group who will now have to answer for criminal association, pet trafficking, mistreatment, fraud, material forgery, commercial fraud and abusive practice of profession. The puppies were mistreated especially during transport by car from Slovakia to various Italian destinations. Kept in small carriers, even 20 specimens at a time, without water or food, the puppies often died during the journey. The police saved about a hundred of them, all of whom were immediately placed in foster care.
