Colombian vet charged in US with smuggling heroin in puppies’ bellies

A veterinarian has pleaded not guilty to US charges that he turned puppies into drug couriers for a Colombian trafficking ring by stitching packets of liquid heroin into their bellies.

Key points:
Andres Lopez Elorza became a fugitive in 2005
He’s accused of being part of a barbaric scheme that turned dogs into “animal couriers”
Investigators believe some puppies would have died in the process, but they don’t know how many
Andres Lopez Elorza was arraigned in a US Federal Court on Tuesday (local time) on an indictment of conspiring to import and distribute heroin into the United States, the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York said.

Mr Lopez Elorza, 38, who also goes by Lopez Elorez, became a fugitive in 2005 when authorities arrested about two dozen suspected traffickers in Colombia.

Before he fled, the defendant had “gained some notoriety” from accusations that he was part of a barbaric scheme that turned an undetermined number of puppies and dogs into “animal couriers”.

via Colombian vet charged in US with smuggling heroin in puppies’ bellies – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)