A woman who imported French bulldog puppies from Lithuania to flog on the internet for hundreds of pounds has been prosecuted for breaching animal welfare laws.

Lithuanian Sonata Sakalauskaite, 36, from Southfields, was caught out running an illegal pet shop business from her flat in Lainson Street.

Her dodgy business was discovered in a joint investigation into illegal importation and sale of puppies, from the Baltic states, by City of London Corporation and Wandsworth Council.

An initial investigation led officers to Sakalauskaite’s home, where they seized five French bulldog puppies being advertised on Gumtree.

They visited her again a few weeks later when they found two more puppies that had been hidden behind a piano.

Wandsworth Times:

French bulldog puppies

Neighbours said there had been an almost constant stream of puppies arriving and leaving the property.

Officers found the puppies had entered the UK under fake pet passports and were under the legal age of 15 weeks, aged between eight and 10 weeks old, meaning they would have been taken from their mothers before they should have been.

As well as welfare concerns the council had worries about public health as the puppies had been born outside the UK where rabies is still an issue.

The false pet passports said the dogs had been vaccinated against rabies, but they were not old enough for injections to be effective.

When interviewed Sakalauskaite admitted selling two French bulldog puppies for about £650.

She also confirmed the pups were born in Lithuania.

She claimed she had given up the business, but the council said it found evidence she was still selling puppies and had sold another one while the case was being investigated.

Community safety spokesman councillor Jonathan Cook said: "There were very real concerns about the welfare of these puppies and how they were being kept and treated at this small flat.

"Our investigation showed that Miss Sakalauskaite was effectively running a commercial pet shop from her property without a licence and this is illegal.

"If these had been puppies born in her flat to another dog she owned that would have been one thing but this appeared to involve large numbers of puppies being imported from overseas simply to be sold on.

"The scale of her business operation showed that the health and wellbeing of these young dogs was being put at risk, not to mention the wider public health implications of what she was doing."

The case was brought before Lavender Hill Magistrates' Court where Sakalauskaite was ordered to pay £6,350 in fines and court costs.

Anyone with concerns about the welfare of should contact the RSPCA on 0300 1234999 or the council’s dog team on 020 8871 7532 or dogcontrol@wandsworth.gov.uk.