The Civil Guard clarifies through DNA the theft of a litter of dogs

The Civil Guard has clarified the theft of five dogs of the American Staffordshire Terrier breed, through the comparison of DNA samples, extracted from the parents of the dogs and one of the puppies of the stolen litter, which was located in Alcoy (Alicante ). It is a pioneering animal research procedure in the province.

On December 30 of last year 2019, the Civil Guard received a complaint in which a person stated that he had suffered a robbery on his plot, located in the town of Banyeres de Mariola (Alicante), of which unknown authors, after jumping the Perimeter fencing of the farm, they had stolen a litter of five puppies about 20 days old, of the American Staffordshire Terrier breed, considered as potentially dangerous and whose market value ranges between 400 and 600 euros per puppy.

Because the theft occurred on Christmas dates, one of the lines of investigation the agents took was to check whether the puppies were offered on the black market, as a possible Christmas gift. For this reason, the College of Veterinarians of Alicante was alerted so that, in the event that any client brought an animal with similar characteristics to the abducted or to one of the clinics in the area, the Civil Guard was immediately informed.

As a result of that management, at the end of January 2020, a veterinary center in Alcoy alerted that a client had come in person with a dog that, considering her young age, breed and morphology, could be one of the five abducted. Thanks to this information, it was found that the person who went to the clinic bought the dog from a young man, who assured him that the animal belonged to him and for which he paid 200 euros.

The dog in question was shown to the owner of the litter, he told the agents that it could be one of his animals, although he could not assure him, because, obviously, the dog had grown and had characteristics that it did not have, with 20 days of life.

For this reason, saliva samples were taken, both from the localized bitch and from the parents of the litter and they were sent to the Environment Department of the Criminalistics Service of the Civil Guard, so that highly qualified specialists from said department , carry out an expert report to compare DNA samples, in order to obtain a genetic profile of said samples and determine the possible relationship between them.

As a result of the comparison, it has been possible to verify that the result of said genetic report determined the genealogical compatibility between the different samples analyzed, confirming, therefore, that the dog located in Alcoy belonged to the five puppies of the litter stolen in Banyeres.

For all this, the Civil Guard proceeded to arrest the seller of the stolen puppy, for being the alleged author of a crime of robbery with force in things and a crime of fraud, having sold the dog as if it were his property when, really, it had been stolen from a third party.

The detainee, a resident of Cocentaina (Alicante), has already been placed at the disposal of the judicial authority, who has ordered his release on charges, awaiting trial. The investigation remains open to clarify the whereabouts of the remaining four cubs.

The investigation has been carried out by the ROCA Team of the Civil Guard of Ibi (Alicante).

For more information, you can contact the Peripheral Communication Office of the Alicante Civil Guard on the phone 680416220.