Cockfight operation shut down in Tijuana

Tijuana police arrested 15 people and seized 15 roosters after raiding a clandestine cockfighting ring in the city's Niño Artillero neighborhood.

According to accounts in several Tijuana newspapers, officers were summoned to the scene around 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 16, after receiving reports of an armed man at an illegal cockfighting ring in a vacant lot at José Vasconcelos and Lázaro Cárdenas streets in the rough-and-tumble Sánchez Taboada section of town.

Upon arrival, officers found numerous people placing bets while two roosters were fighting. According to press accounts, police seized the two roosters and 13 other gamecocks, along with 17 pieces of evidence specifically related to the blood sport, including razors, scissors, pieces of cord, and a scale.

In addition, officers seized 1769 pesos (about $132) in bets that had been placed by participants.

Witnesses told police that when the man with the gun saw police swarming the area, he threw the weapon into a backpack and fled. A subsequent search of the neighborhood failed to turn up the armed man, police said.

Arrested were Verónica Valdivia Vega, 36, the alleged owner of the property on which the clandestine cockfighting ring was situated, and 14 others, who were caught placing bets. All were turned over to federal authorities for prosecution, police said. Cockfighting without a government permit is a crime in Mexico.