Gardai undertake searches as part of horse trafficking swoop across Ireland

Searches have been carried out by Gardaí as part of a Europe-wide investigation into suspected horse trafficking and identity fraud.

Gardaí carried out searches in Donegal, Galway, Kilkenny, Tipperary, Kildare and Dublin, with eight searches conducted in Ireland and 25 across Europe.

The criminal investigation is targeting a network suspected of forging horse passports and manipulating microchips to give the animals new identities.

Investigators believe the alleged fraud was used to conceal horses’ backgrounds, allowing them to be moved and resold across Europe and potentially obscuring whether they were eligible for human consumption.

The coordinated operation, led by Belgium, saw authorities carry out 24 searches:

• 4 in Belgium (East Flanders and Brabant)
• 6 in Ireland (counties of Galway, Kilkenny, Tipperary, Kildare, Dublin, Donegal)
• 7 in France (Gard, Saône-et-Loire, Mayenne, Sarthe, Gironde, Haute-Saône)
• 7 in the Netherlands (Limburg, South Holland, North Brabant, Utrecht, Zeeland)

The trade is said to be large in scale.

More than 1,000 horses were checked, amid fears that some animals may have been illegally diverted into the food chain without their true origins or histories being known.

Europol has warned that undermining horse traceability systems could potentially result in animals not intended for human consumption being illegally sent for slaughter.

Authorities are working to establish the final destinations of the horses. Some are suspected of having been fraudulently resold under false identities, while others may have entered the food chain.

The Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation led the Irish searches, with assistance from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Belgian police officers and Europol.

Europol also deployed experts to Ireland and Belgium during the operation to cross-check information against its databases and assist with real-time information sharing.

The agency brought in expertise from Operation OPSON, which specialises in tackling the trafficking of counterfeit and substandard food and beverages, because of the suspected connection to the food chain.

The wider investigation is being led by Belgian authorities and also involves police and administrative authorities in France and the Netherlands.

Evidence seized during the searches is being analysed, while investigators are also working to identify further individuals potentially connected to the suspected criminal network.

"An Garda Síochána remains committed to disrupting serious and organised crime and safeguarding public health and animal welfare across Ireland," a spokesperson said.