A huge police operation in Madrid, Alicante, Murcia and Tenerife has cracked an illegal, dog-fighting ring and rescued a total of 230 dogs.

Police officers from the Policia Nacional burst into a programmed dog fight in Tenerife, where four to-the-death fights had been arranged.

The illegal dog fights were organised by a drugs gang that administered anabolic steroids to the animals, most of which belonged to breeds classified as ‘dangerous.’

The police rounded up a total of 34 suspects in four different provinces of Spain and also discovered three related marijuana plantations, totalling 800 plants.

All of the confiscated dogs have been taken in by animal-protection associations that work with the police in these cases.

It was in September 2016 police investigators received a tip off from an animal-protection association concerning somebody who allegedly was involved in organising such illegal dog fights in Fuente el Saz, Madrid

The police held back the bust until they knew exactly who was involved and where/how the fights were organised. By this time they had discovered that the targets in Madrid were actually running operations in the other said provinces.

Furthermore, one of those arrested with the nickname of “Maestro” organised fights in Arab Emirates, Thailand and Mexico, as well. Dogs that survived these foreign-venue fights were brought in to take part in local fights

Not only did the police managed to identify organisation members, but they also managed to pin down their tasks within the organisation, such as obtaining drugs to dope the dogs, find venues, corpse disposal and stealing dogs to be used as cannon fodder in training fights.

(News: Madrid, Tenerife, Spain)