Irish law enforcement officers have conducted searches across six counties as part of an international operation targeting a criminal network suspected of trafficking horses across Europe using falsified documents and manipulated microchips.

The Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation carried out eight searches across Dublin, Kildare, Galway, Kilkenny, Tipperary, and Donegal. The raids were supported by officers from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Europol, and the Belgian Federal Police.

The Irish searches formed part of a broader Europe-wide action led by Belgian judicial authorities, involving nearly 200 officers executing raids across Ireland, Belgium, France, and the Netherlands. Europol confirmed that more than 1,000 horses were checked during the coordinated operation to verify animal welfare, origins, and identification records.

Investigators allege that the criminal network fraudulently altered horse passports and microchip data to give animals false identities. The practice obscured the horses' background and medical history, creating risks that animals unfit for slaughter could be illegally resold or diverted into the European human food chain.

In Belgium, authorities confirmed that three suspects were arrested, with two remanded in custody. Belgian police also seized communication devices, financial documents, and more than €100,000 in cash, while dozens of horses were seized across participating jurisdictions under administrative or court orders.

An Garda Síochána stated that evidence seized during the Irish searches is currently undergoing technical analysis and that investigations remain ongoing across all involved jurisdictions.