Animal trafficking on the AP-7: up to 2,000 euros for a puppy

BarcelonaA refrigerated van was circulating on the AP-7, at the height of Girona. The Mossos decided to stop it and, inside, they found 14 puppies of various breeds, such as cavapoo, cavalier, maltipoo or teckel. Where did the dogs come from? From Slovakia. And where were they going? To a zoo in Empordà that, surprisingly, no longer exists. Furthermore, the puppies were about 10 weeks old — below the minimum legal age permitted for import, set at 15 weeks — and also did not meet the sanitary requirements. The animals were transferred to a shelter and the driver ended up arrested.

The Mossos managed to intercept this van in December while carrying out an exclusive operation against animal trafficking on the AP-7. In fact, the Catalan police have detected an increase in this type of trafficking, especially of dogs, through the Catalan motorway. The Regional Unit for the Environment (URMA) of the Mossos in Girona pursues organizations dedicated to these activities, and its head, Toni Martín, says in statements to the ACN that mafias multiply their profits tenfold or twentyfold once they have sold the dog. These are gangs that take animals from Eastern European countries to sell them in Spain.

A few months before the discovery in the van in Girona, the Mossos also detected a suspicious car in La Jonquera coming from Eastern Europe. They followed it to Santpedor, to a kind of zoological center [center or space intended for the breeding and collection of animals, and their commercialization]. Inside the vehicle there were 33 puppies, and in the zoological center there were 23 more. The operation resulted in six people being reported. And, two months earlier, in Mollet del Vallès, the police detected that on a bus from Moldova there were four poodles and three yorkshires confined in three cages and in very deficient hygienic-sanitary and welfare conditions. They were to be handed over to an intermediary in Mollet without a zoological center or operating license. Two men ended up being reported.

Highly sought-after breeds

Toni Martín explains that the gangs mainly traffic in dogs of highly sought-after breeds, such as chihuahuas, dachshunds, labradors, or golden retrievers. In some cases, animal traffickers pay 100 euros per specimen and resell it first for 500 to an intermediary who can finally sell it to an individual for 2,000 euros. "It's very profitable, that's why it continues to be done," he points out.

The problem is that many of these dogs arrive without the relevant health controls, and this causes "some losses". Furthermore, some may carry diseases that develop after the final customer has bought the dog. "The person thinks they are buying an animal with health guarantees, and since it comes from abroad and how it was bred has not been controlled, and the genetic profile is not adequate, they find that the dog develops a disease "a posteriori. We encounter this quite often," says the corporal and head of URMA in Girona. 

Above all, however, the most significant precedent recorded in Catalonia is Operation Bitxet. Launched in October 2023 by the Mossos d'Esquadra, together with other police forces, it dismantled a network dedicated to the illegal import and sale of companion animals. The organization introduced dogs from Eastern European countries into the State, which were then sold through various establishments. The operation resulted in thirteen arrests and the rescue of over 400 animals, including dogs and cats, some of which presented health problems. One of the shops selling these animals was on Castillejos street in Barcelona and was called Bitxets.