Couple suspected of dog smuggling set free

A man and a woman suspected of having smuggled nine dogs into Sweden were released on Thursday in connection with the detention hearing in Karlskrona.

However, the prosecution added that the allegations against them remain. The district court in southern Sweden announced that it did not think it was appropriate to detain the woman and rescinded the prosecution's request to arrest the man.

The nine dogs were in poor condition when customs discovered them and quickly had them put down.

"They were just five weeks old. One could not even see what breed it was," prosecutor Mårten Alvinsson in Karlskrona told SVT's Blekingenytt news programme.

The trial of another dog smuggling case will begin in several weeks. Two women and two men are suspected of having attempted to smuggle 22 dogs into Sweden last month.

The dogs were hidden in various cases and were chihuahuas and French bulldogs. They were also later put down.

Dog smuggling can be a lucrative business in Sweden. According to Alvinsson, traffickers buy each dog for less than 100 kronor ($14) and later sell them for a couple thousand kronor in Sweden.

Of the four suspects in the upcoming trial, only one is suspected of attempting to smuggle the 22 dogs.

"We believe that the other three have made several trips and smuggled many more dogs," said Alvinsson.

He warned people not to buy smuggled dogs and pointed out the dangers of rabies and dwarf tapeworms, a dangerous parasite that has not yet been found in Sweden.