Spanish police arrest two people linked to cat smuggling ring based in Mallorca

MADRID — Spanish police have arrested two people in connection with the sale of exotic felines on the internet.

The authorities seized 19 animals, including a caracal and two servals, in an operation in Manacor, on the Balearic island of Mallorca, the Civil Guard said in a statement Thursday.

More than 40 irregular animal passports from countries such as Russia, Belarus and China were also found.

The operation began in March last year when the Civil Guard became aware of a couple in Palma de Mallorca who were raising servals, caracals and hybrids with domestic cats to sell them using social networks.

The suspects are alleged to have offered for sale white tigers, clouded leopards – for which they were asking 60,000 euros ($68,000) – Eurasian lynxes, hyenas, black leopards and pumas.

Attempts to breed and own these types of felines as pets are widespread in Russia and Ukraine, and the trend has begun to be imitated in other countries, the authorities added.

The animals will be transferred to a rescue and rehabilitation center for exotic mammals in Alicante, in eastern Spain.