Nineteen men were arrested on Thursday afternoon in the Alicante town of Aspe in a leisure and restaurant venue called Gallera El Chato. The establishment, open to all types of public event, ran a clandestine cockpit with high-quality facilities, all hidden behind closed doors, with a capacity for almost two hundred spectators.
As the police raided the cockfight there were approximately 150 people at the event, from many different parts of Spain and France.
The raid was one of the biggest blows dealt by the National Police to this type of illegal competition which was attended by fifty officers from various units of the Alicante Provincial Police, supported by officers from Elche Police Station.
Those arrested, from whom more than 26,000 euros were seized, were mainly the administrators, organisers and senior officials at the competition. They have since been charged with crimes of animal abuse and of belonging to a criminal organization.
The participants gambled large amounts of money as they bet on which rooster would survive. Most of the 18 animals rescued in the so-called “Operation Ring” had their natural spurs blunted so that metal spurs could be attached to their legs. Their combs were also removed to reduce bleeding during matches. The cocks were also injected with vitamin supplements to help them gain weight.
Numerous investigations, surveillance and monitoring led the agents to the event, with intelligence indicating that a fight was being organised inside the restaurant premises for Thursday which, suggested that scores of people were expected to attend.
The first officers to arrive at the establishment were the Prevention and Reaction Units (UPR) from both Alicante and Elche, specialised in this type of activity and crowd control. There were about fifty people inside while a hundred waited outside. Many were able to access the room and watch the fight , while there were others who were still arriving, carrying their own roosters.
Some of those attending what is considered to be “one of the most important competitions of the year” told the agents that the roosters that are seriously injured are sacrificed and, along with those that die in the fight, they are hidden away so that the Police I can’t find them.
Even so, investigators were able to find traces of blood both in the arena and in waste bins in the area where they are prepared for the fight.
Among the approximately 150 people who were identified at the event, 18 were arrested for their alleged participation in the organisation of the fights, either by arranging them, providing the roosters or for their collaboration in illegal betting activities.
One of them was the owner of the premises, considered to be the main ringleader of the activity. Another man who was being sought under a wanted warrant has also been arrested.
In addition to more than 26,000 euros, several doses of cocaine and a knife with a 20-centimeter blade were seized from among the attendees’ belongings.
Currently Cockfighting is banned in Spain except in two Spanish regions, the Canary Islands and Andalusia, where it is based on cultural heritage and history. In Andalusia, however, the activity has virtually disappeared, surviving only within a program to maintain the fighting breed “combatiente español” coordinated by the University of Córdoba.
