June 2016, we were asked to open an investigation into global #dogfighting - it was time the horror was addressed. The aim was to reach a large international audience to explain what this barbarity was really about. This feed will explain what happened next... 🕵🏼♂️ 
We were already working on a separate project in Greece 🇬🇷 - but we had to find a new start point in the UK for this investigation. We trawled through all the existing information and tips for the best lead. Finding this is always CRITICAL to a successful investigation.
We identified a man who had strong links to Birmingham but also contacts within Eastern Europe, we know as a hot-bed for top level #dogfighting - the information had come from a tip-off and our experience and senses made us feel this was a great lead. The research began 💻
We wanted to know everything about this man, his contacts, his lifestyle and very importantly his footprint into #dogfighting - so we had to dig deeply into dark areas of the web to an area where dog fighters hide. His associations proved quickly that he was extensively involved
Hundreds of thousands of fighting dogs are listed on the open web. It’s an industry that survives on communication, albeit often encrypted. We had to laboriously find patterns of dogs linked to our subject. This would help us understand his operations. A time consuming part !
This is the time during an undercover investigation where the overall picture is being painted. It will provide justification for progression based on objective reasoning - and ideally scope the operational parameters.
We wanted to know where the dogs came from, how they were trained, how and when fought. The money and other crime involved and how they evaded capture. This ended up as a project that would last for 2 years.
We opened doors in the Eastern Europe networks online, through Serbia to Bulgaria where we started unravelling a complex network that had feeds into Western Europe, the US and across Asia. One new name kept emerging though.
The ‘name’ that kept emerging on the #dogfighting operation was ‘Тому‘ - a Bulgarian word for ‘therefore’ or ‘because’ 🗝 a clue, but what was the relevance? What did ‘Тому‘ relate to?
‘Тому‘ was actually the name of an organisation led by Bulgarians that appeared to be involved in #dogfighting around the globe 🌍🌎🌏 - but we had no idea what their involvement was. So we had to find who was behind the mask 🔍
Behind the first mask was a Bulgarian National from a small villlage. We made contact posing as dog fighters 📞
A 'legend' is important when making contact - a story that withstands scrutiny, but that can only really come with understanding the business area. It's also vital to understand criminal motivation because the subject needs to want what you have. #dogfighting
Clearly we chose the right approach and we entered the dark world of international #dogfighting
A dark world where dogs’ loyalty is betrayed by their owners, where brutality replaces love and respect. #dogfighting hurts.
We made contact with the man behind the mask. He told us he and his partner had shipped fighting dogs around the world. He told us which dogs and where they’d gone, including to the UK. We traced the dogs’ bloodlines 💻
One of the dogs was traced to a man convicted of #dogfighting in England and Wales. This man was given a 6 month SUSPENDED sentence. (England and Wales has the lowest jail terms in Europe.)
By now the investigation was widening. Meetings were being held in person with the criminals in the UK and Eastern Europe to understand how they worked, fighters were being identified and on one occasion a couple of dogs were rescued. We wanted to expose one gang in particular.
This was the gang responsible for shipping the dogs around the world. So we briefed the BBC and worked closely with them on an international #dogfighting exposé.
At the same time, the link between #dogfighting and organised crime in Greece and The Balkans was being put together for an exposé on Vice media.
Top level dog fighters have to cross borders that could act as ‘pinch points’ for #lawenforcement. In the UK this responsibility bizarrely rests with the Animal Plant and Health Agency - not best known for tackling #organisedcrime 🕵🏼♂️ - criminals found ways to evade these controls
With operations, not every route works and we had to deploy and review using a variety of tactics. At the same time monitoring the gang’s activity trading dogs, shipping them and horrifically, fighting them.
We uncovered huge fighting kennels across China, almost on a industrial scale. We uncovered operations in the Middle East and dogs being traded around the Caribbean. #DogFighting is a global problem with no global response.
