International heroin smugglers turned puppies into drug mules – cutting open their bellies and stuffing them with packets of liquid smack, reports the New York Daily News. Cops in Colombia rescued 10 Labrador puppies at a filthy, makeshift veterinary clinic where hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of heroin was surgically stitched into them in preparation for trips to the U.S.
The animal rescue led to a year-long international probe that ended with the arrests of 10 Colombian nationals in New York, Florida, and North Carolina. “They utilized a wide range of smuggling, the most repulsive of which was the use of puppies,” said Drug Enforcement Administration agent-in-charge John Gilbride. “I think it’s outrageous and heinous that they would use innocent puppies this way,” he added. A tipster led Colombian police to a farm in Medellin, where they found the black and brown puppies living in squalor. Six of the dogs had been implanted with 3 kilograms of liquid heroin – contained in plastic packets resembling intravenous bags – surgically hidden just under the skin. Three of the dogs died because of infections apparently as a result of the surgery.
Link: http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/387831p-329049c.html