After extensive research, The Federal Police managed to arrest a criminal group who was in charge of selling smuggled dogs for illegal competitions abroad. The criminals’ operations were carried out by a series of companies.
The animals were exported with customs maneuvers outside the lawa fact that was detected by the Ministry of Justice and caused the start of the operations. In them, 25 raids were carried outboth in the City and in the Province of Buenos Aires.
A criminal complaint made last year by the Customs Operational Department of the Ezeiza Customs Directoratewas the one that gave rise to the suspicion. The companies that sought to export the dogs to put them in competition, presented the façade that their purpose was merely commercial, excusing that they were only “removals.”
In the raid operations, they kidnapped abundant documentation, US$7,800, cell phones and computers with related information with foreign trade operations. All this allowed the complaint to be corroborated.
The activity was carried out without the corresponding tariffs and outside customs regulations, in order to reduce the amounts of taxes payable for such foreign trade operation. Also, of course, animal abuse was hidden which entailed the objective of the operations, hiding even the true owners of the animals.
In October 2023, approximately 10 raids had been carried out, due to an investigation in which veterinarians, customs brokers and customs transport agents fellwho formed an organization in charge of the same.
As a consequence, the National Economic Criminal Court No. 4ordered the deepening of the investigation in which personnel from the Cybercrime Technical Department and the Computer Experts Division of the PFA collaborated, due to the complexity of the operation.
As a result of the investigations, the federal agents later carried out a total of twenty-five raids in veterinary clinics, dog daycare centers, dog kennels and freight agent offices specializing in live animals and international removals, located in CABA and different places in the PBA.
During the procedure, abundant documentation was seized, US$7,800, cell phones and computers with information related to foreign trade operations, which made it possible to corroborate the reported operation. The seized items were placed at the disposal of the intervening magistrate for violation of the Customs Code.
Source: Ambito
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
