Crime lords are ditching drug trafficking in favor of puppy-smuggling — and are raking in nearly $40,000 a week, The Sun can reveal.
French bulldogs are the criminals’ favorite money-spinners and are trafficked from disease-infested breeding dens in countries like Romania to meet the huge demand in the United Kingdom.
This bat-eared breed is set to take over as the UK’s most popular breed next year if the rate of demand continues, knocking labradors off the spot they have held for 27 years.
Announcing the prediction this week, the Kennel Club warned of the risks of buying from unscrupulous dealers who are cashing in on the dogs’ newfound popularity.
Smuggled pups are usually unvaccinated and can carry infections and potentially deadly diseases.
The craze for Frenchies has been fuelled by pictures of the photogenic breed plastered online by celebrity owners including Lady Gaga, David Beckham, Holly Willoughby and Millie Mackintosh.
French bulldog pups from reputable dealers can sell for up to $2,500 each — but smugglers can snap them up for around $50 each from foreign puppy farms.
Vet David Martin, of the Brownlow Veterinary Group, said: “These puppy dealers have given up drug dealing and cigarette importing because there’s as much money in it and considerably less risk.”
“The big puppy dealers are making between $30,000 and $40,000 a week.”
“I’ve seen evidence that some of the gangs are selling 800 puppies over a six-month period for between $600 and $1,500 a dog.”
Kennel Club secretary Caroline Kisko said: “While the French bulldog is a lovely breed, it’s very unwise for anyone to buy one simply because it looks cute or is a fashionable choice.”
“While it’s normal to want to show off your dog, when celebrities do it, it usually results in a surge in the popularity of certain breeds.”
“This opens the doors to unscrupulous breeders who see it as an opportunity to breed lots of them without due care to health and welfare.”
There are believed to be up to 100 dog-smuggling gangs operating in the UK, bringing in an estimated 200 puppies every day.
And while drug smugglers can be landed with life sentences in jail, puppy smugglers are likely to get just a few months.
Paula Boyden of the Dogs Trust said: “The penalties for illegal importation of puppies are negligible and there’s serious money to be made.”
The puppy trade has boomed since the introduction of pet passports in 2011, which allow dogs to come into the UK without going into quarantine.
In that time the number of dogs entering Britain from Romania has risen by an incredible 2,055 percent.
Imports of pups from Lithuania are up 850 percent and there has been a 761 percent increase from Hungary. Rabies is present in all three countries.
Puppies are meant to be at least 15 weeks old before they can be given a passport in order for their vaccinations against rabies at the recommended age of 12 weeks to take effect.
But an undercover investigation by the Dogs Trust in 2015 found sellers are flouting this law by using pet passports with bogus dates of birth.
Many are bought in bulk from puppy farms and then stuffed into cars or vans for journeys to Britain that can take 20 hours.
Once here they are sold on sites like Preloved and Gumtree — often presented as the offspring of cherished family pets.
Julie May of Newcastle was left devastated when she discovered her French bulldog puppy had been smuggled from Hungary under a false passport.
She had bought the pup, Bella, for $850 in June 2015 after seeing an advertisement on Gumtree.
Bella’s passport said she was six months old, but when May took her for a check-up, the worried vet said she looked less than 12 weeks old.
That meant that by law Bella had to be immediately sent into quarantine, because she was from an infected country and was too young for her anti-rabies vaccination, if she had even had one, to take effect.
Quarantine for a dog costs around $375 a month and May ended up having to fork out $800 for Bella’s 22-day stay and her new vaccinations.
May, 33, says: “I bought her with papers and documents and trusted they were genuine.”
“By the time we realized she’d come to the country on a false passport, we already loved her.”
“So we were prepared to pay the quarantine fees.”
“I don’t begrudge having to pay the money but we had a lot of heartache and worry to deal with when she went into quarantine.”
Sharon Fitzpatrick, 46, from Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, was also duped.
She bought French bulldog pup Hugo from someone she thought was a reputable breeder.
Fitzpatrick says: “We’re experienced dog owners and we already have a rescue dog.”
“We did some research and found a breeder online.”
“She looked very reputable and when we went to see the puppy everything seemed to be in order.”
“She told us that Hugo’s mother had died during the birth, which we accepted.”
“The day after we took him home, he developed a cough so we took him to the vet and were absolutely horrified to discover that his chip confirmed he had been imported from Hungary and was only ten weeks old.”
Hugo ended up in quarantine and the family was left with a bill of more than $750.
Dog Trust’s veterinary director Paula Boyden, who has given evidence to the European Commission’s Animal Health Advisory Committee, said: “Some of these gangs have got incredibly smart.”
“They know people are told to see the puppies with their mothers so they’ll often place a dog of the same breed with them when really it’s no relation.”
“They also rent houses in nice parts of town so that the whole thing feels like you’re entering a family home.”
Recently a hard-hitting report from the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs committee called for a ban on importing dogs aged six months or under.
They believe this would help stamp out the trade for the cute young puppies British buyers love.
And that could also make all pets in the UK safer.
Philip Mansbridge of the International Fund for Animal Welfare warned: “The growth in the illegal importation of puppies coming into the country with false documentation increases the risk of rabies in the UK.”
This article originally appeared on The Sun.
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