PUPPIES USED AS DRUG MULES

Colombian drug dealers turned purebred puppies into drug couriers by
surgically implanting them with packets of liquid heroin, US
authorities said today.

Ten puppies were rescued during a 2004 raid on a farm in Colombia,
the US Drug Enforcement Administration said while announcing arrests
in the two-year investigation.

A veterinarian had stitched a total of three kg of heroin into the
bellies of six pups. Three later died from infection after the drugs
were removed.

The surviving dogs "are still alive and well, we're told," said John
Gilbride, head of the DEA's New York office.

DEA investigators said they believe the Medellin, Colombia-based ring
used the puppies and other methods to conceal millions of dollars
worth of heroin on commercial flights into New York City for
distribution throughout the US East Coast.

"It just demonstrates what lengths drugs dealers will go to to get
drugs into the country," Gilbride said.

The puppy implants were the traffickers' take on the common practice
of paying people to swallow dozens of drug-packed pellets made with
condoms or latex glove fingers wrapped in tape.

The couriers, called "swallowers," then take flights to US cities,
where they expel the drugs by using the bathroom.

Authorities said swallowers - who risk fatal overdoses if the pellets
rupture in their stomachs - also were part of the heroin operation.

Drugs also were concealed in body creams and aerosol cans and were
sewn into the linings of purses and luggage.