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Puppies Used by traffickers to smuggle Drugs
Police and Law Enforcement News
Friday, February 2, 12:05 a.m.
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The puppies pictured here were injected with liquid
heroin packets.
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The United
States The Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) New York Field
Division, Special Agent-in-Charge, JOHN P. GILBRIDE announced the
arrests of 22 Colombian nationals who were responsible for smuggling
more than 20 kilograms of heroin into the United States. Their
Colombian organization used various and unorthodox concealment
methods.
Human couriers, termed "swallowers", ingested the heroin packets for
transporting. Animal couriers were pure-bred puppies that had heroin
packets surgically implanted in them. In one instance, six puppies
were found impregnated with a total of three kilograms of liquid
heroin packets.
In addition,
the heroin was concealed in body creams, aerosol cans, pressed into
bead shapes, and sewn into the lining of purses and double-sided
luggage.
"The
organization's outrageous and heinous smuggling method of implanting
heroin inside puppies is a true indication of the extent that drug
dealers go to make their profit," said Gilbride. "This investigation
identified the individuals who were responsible for overseeing and
smuggling millions of dollars worth of heroin from Colombia to the
East Coast."
To date,
there have been 14 separate seizures of heroin totaling 24
kilograms; one seizure of six kilograms of cocaine; and 22 arrests.
These arrests came after a two-year multi-agency investigation that
identified an organization based in Medellin, Colombia, whose
distribution network reached from Miami to New York City. The
operation culminated today in an international round-up that
included 18 search warrants in six different Colombian cities.
SAC Gilbride
thanked the Colombian National Police ANTIN Heroin Task Force and
the Eastern District of New York for their assistance with the
investigation. The government’s cases are being prosecuted by
Assistant United States Attorney's Daniel Wenner and Paige Petersen
of the Eastern District of New York.
Agencies
involved included the Bogota, New York, Miami and Atlanta offices of
the DEA, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New
York, the Colombian National Police Heroin Task Force and the
Johnston County Sheriffs Department, North Carolina.
Police and Law Enforcement News
Friday, February 2, 12:05 a.m.
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