According to Filipino news, 6 Korean nationals have been arrested in the Philippines for their part in a huge dog fighting operation.

Part of the operation involved filming the dog fights for live online streaming into South Korea through a gambling site. Typically, with such brutal animal exploitation, profits made through gambling drive criminals to adopt more sophisticated methods such as these to bypass laws.

Here is the ANC report from ABSCBN News in the Philippines:

MANILA, Philippines - Authorities arrested six Korean nationals in Indang, Cavite for running a dog fighting ring.

Police had been monitoring the operation for several days. The dog fights had been going on for more than a month now.

Through the help of a tipster, police were able to arrest the Koreans and their 17 Filipino workers. Cases are now being prepared against them.

Cavite Police Director Supt. Romeo Baleros said, "We can’t yet identify the operators who will be charged."

Offenders of the Republic Act 8485 or the Animal Welfare Act face a minimum sentence of six months to two years imprisonment or a fine of one thousand to five thousand pesos or both.

The actual dog fighting was caught on cellphone video.

The operation was organized with cameras spread throughout the venue, which were then fed to a control booth.

Police believe the fights were used in an online gambling site and streamed live through the Internet to South Korea.

Dog fighting is illegal both in South Korea and the Philippines.

In a statement, Philippine Animal Welfare Society Director Anna Cabrera said, "We at PAWS are happy for the success of the operations because we know that the police, in coordination with animal welfare groups, are serious in tracking down dog fighting syndicates."

She said PAWS receives five to seven reports of animal cruelty in a day.

She noted several violators have already been apprehended and have faced charges including the "cat serial killer," people behind the animal crush videos, and another who hung his puppy on a clothesline.

See the Filipino news video here.

Sadly, the demand for blood sports and associated gambling is being supported by uncaring people here in South Korea.

Also, it is a shame Korean police are not as vigilant in protecting dogs against various abuses in Korea. The Philippines, in contrast, seems way ahead, and not only has its government outlawed dog meat, but its police are serious about enforcing the animal welfare laws.

Philippine Animal Rescue Angels has said that in fact 7 Koreans were arrested. Here is an update from Charles Wartenberg, the president of the Animal Kingdom Foundation (AKF):

The Philippine National police (PNP) together with an AKF investigator raided which must be described as a breeding / fighting place for Pit Bull Terriers, this took place in the town of Cavite, about 20 miles south of Manila.

The Philippine National police (PNP) together with an AKF investigator raided which must be described as a breeding / fighting place for Pit Bull Terriers, this took place in the town of Cavite, about 20 miles south of Manila.

The total count of Pit Bulls is 243, some already have injuries from fighting, our vets are on site and are treating or putting down the badly injured, however this is proving to be very difficult and very dangerous, these dogs have all been bred and trained to fight.

For obvious reasons it is not practical, or possible to take these dogs into our rescue centre. Our lawyers have been in touch with the government department "The Bureau of Animal Industry" (BAI) they are sending officials for a meeting on site on Monday. We will follow their recommendations, in the mean time AKF staff are being present on site 24 hours a day, feeding and looking after the dogs, AKF are paying for the dog food. During this time AKF will be having 24 hour police protection.

Seven Koreans and twelve local people have been arrested, the Koreans who are the owners of the site are being held in police custody, the 12 locals under police guard are helping AKF staff to look after the dogs.

AKF lawyers will form part of the prosecution team, rest assured they will be charged and prosecuted with everything we can throw at them.

This place was being used for online gambling, with streaming videos and on line betting, cameras were set up around the dog fighting pit, it would appear (but we are not sure) that people were not allowed inside to watch the fighting. However with this number of dogs we are looking at the possibility of supplying dogs to other parts of the Philippines, or is it even a Korean syndicate working in the Philippines? Once again we will investigate this.

Due to the extreme seriousness of all this I have decided to put our guards at the rescue centre on full alert, checking everyone before allowing them into the centre, Oh Yes our guards are armed, which is normal in the Philippines.

Clearly as you might well imagine this is something way outside the normal, we have in the past tried to investigate dog fighting, and have had to back off because of the danger involved. Further this is the biggest catchment of dogs we have ever had to deal with, and is putting a huge strain on our staff and resources. At the same time this is a huge blow against the dog fighting brigade, and a true success for Animal Welfare.

Charles Wartenberg (AKF President)

Congratulations to AKF for doing such a great job. We look forward to the Korean criminals getting the book thrown at them!

There are sure to be criminal connections in Korean related to this and hopefully they can be tracked down as well.