Police Hunt “Dognapping” team

The police in the UK are hunting an organised gang of 'dognappers' after 24 animals were stolen in an area within a two week period.

All the dogs concerned were taken from homes in the Forest of Dean area of Gloucestershire.

Jane Hayes, founder of the DogLost website, from Newport, South Wales, has been assisting the police and said she believes a professional gang are responsible for the spate of thefts in May.
"It's definitely an organised gang who are targeting working dogs such as terriers, labradors and spaniels - all of which can be worth a lot of money," she said.

"If they phoned up and demanded ransom money then it would be possible to arrest them for extortion. But instead they ring up and say 'I've got your dog but I paid a lot of money for him in the pub so can you give me some reward money?'

"The reward money is always negotiable so they can demand whatever they want and if the owner offers a reward from the start they can't be prosecuted.
"The police's hands are tied because if they try to arrest these people they will claim they just found the dog somewhere."
She said she had accompanied one unnamed owner from the Forest of Dean who agreed to pay £500 to be reunited with his stolen dog.
"He was led off by three guys with Irish accents and they demanded the money," she added. "They brought the dog out and then they said, 'we don't want £500 anymore, we want £1,000'.
"He said, 'well what can I do, I don't have that money on me', so he decided the best thing he could do was just grapple with them, grab the dog and make a run for it.

"He managed to get to his car with the dog and sped off but it took him 30 miles to lose them."

Several dog owners have reported men trying to entice their pets away with food.

One pet owner from Coleford, Gloucestershire, who gave her name only as Sharon for fear of reprisals, said: "My son let the dogs out one night and as he followed there was a man leaning over the gate to grab at one of the dogs. My son shouted and he ran off but we've caught people leaning over the gate on several occasions trying to encourage the dogs with food."

PC John Palfrey, of Gloucestershire Police, appealed for dognapping victims to get in touch if they receive a ransom demand for a missing animal.
"It's important that people keep in contact with the police right from the initial incident," he said. "I understand the frustrations of people who've lost an animal that is very important to them.
"They must report it to the police and if it is the case that the dog has been stolen then we would create a crime report for that."……………..HANG THE BUGGERS BY THE BALLS………IS WHAT I SAY!!!!!!