RAISINVILLE TOWNSHIP, Mich., March 7 (UPI) -- Authorities in southeastern Michigan say a suspected dogfighting ring raided last weekend is the largest in their memory.
State and county officers arrested 18 people in the raid on a property in Raisinville Township about 1:30 a.m. Sunday, The (Toledo, Ohio) Blade reported.
Detective Heath Velliquette said the suspects were holding a fight in a ring in a garage at the time. "There was blood everywhere," he told the Detroit Free Press Monday.
Nine dogs were rescued but two of them died, said Linda Benson, director of Monroe County Animal Control.
Ten people were caught in the garage, and eight others were tracked down when they ran away, Velliquette said. The suspects, from Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Georgia and Missouri, were being held in the Monroe County Jail.
The raid was executed after the U.S. Department of Agriculture got a tip that a dogfight was planned with "thousands of dollars" to be wagered.
Authorities also seized more than $40,000 in cash, a large quantity of cocaine and marijuana, and a handgun.
