Vet Hid Heroin Inside Puppies: Brooklyn Feds

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK -- A veterinarian who injected liquid heroin into puppies as part of a Colombian drug cartel's trafficking scheme has been sentenced to six years in prison, Brooklyn prosecutors announced.

Andres Lopez Elorez, 39, faces deportation after he pleaded guilty in September to conspiring to smuggle puppies packed with heroin into New York City, U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue announced Thursday.

“Every dog has its day," Donoghue said. "With today’s sentence, Elorez has been held responsible for the reprehensible use of his veterinary skills to conceal heroin inside puppies.”

Investigators arrested Elorez in 2015, one decade after they found the Colombia farm where he raised puppies then surgically implanted bags of liquid heroin inside them between September 2004 and January 2005, prosecutors said.

Drug Enforcement Administration investigators found 17 bags of liquid heroin, weighing 3 kilograms, at the farm during a raid on Jan. 1, 2005, said prosecutors.

Ten bags that were removed from the puppies, three of which died after the surgeries, said prosecutors.

Elorez was sent in May 2018 to the U.S., where he faced charges in Brooklyn Federal Court, prosecutors said.

Photos courtesy of the Drug Enforcement Administration.