Columbian vet who smuggled heroin to U.S. in puppies sent to prison

Posted on February 8, 2019 by Douglas Powell

Jackie Botts of Reuters writes that a Colombian veterinarian who surgically implanted liquid heroin inside live puppies to smuggle the drug into the United States was sentenced to six years in prison on Thursday.

Andres Lopez Elorez, 39, admitted conspiring to import heroin and will be deported to Colombia after his sentence, according to federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, New York.

“Every dog has its day, and with today’s sentence, Elorez has been held responsible for the reprehensible use of his veterinary skills to conceal heroin inside puppies as part of a scheme to import dangerous narcotics into the United States,” Richard Donoghue, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement.

According to prosecutors, between 2004 and 2005 Elorez leased a farm in Medellin, Colombia, where he reared dogs and sewed bags of liquid heroin into nine puppies for importation to the United States.

During a search of the farm in 2005, foreign law enforcement agents seized 17 bags of liquid heroin weighing nearly three kilograms (6.6 lb), including 10 bags extracted from the puppies. Three puppies died after contracting a virus following the surgeries, U.S. prosecutors said.

Eel smuggling ring busted in Spain

Posted on April 9, 2018 by Douglas Powell

Who smuggles eels?

Baby eels, a traditional Spanish tapas. Gulas al ajillo

Maybe by friend Steve (right, not exactly as shown), but no one else I would know.

Chris Chase of Seafood Source reports that Europol and the Spanish Guardia Civil, in collaboration with Portuguese authorities, seized 350 kilograms of elvers that were about to be smuggled out of Spain during “Operation Elvers,” the three agencies announced on 6 April.

Ten suspects were arrested – Spanish, Chinese, and Moroccan nationals – in connection with smuggling the eels. Authorities estimate the group has managed to smuggle a value of EUR 37 million (USD 45.5 million) worth of eels over the course of their operation.

The European eel is subject to multiple EU regulations, including a blanket ban on all imports and exports and a global restriction on trade. In 2009, the species was listed on Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) of Wild Fauna and Flora. Once it became clear that those measures weren’t enough, a ‘zero quota’ ban on all shipments to third countries was put into place.

A video released by the Spanish Guardia Civil shows authorities busting down doors in a raid on the elver smuggling facilities. Rows of tanks filled with make-shift aquaculture equipment, EUR 40,000 (USD 49,000) in cash, and stacks of travel bags used to smuggle the elvers out of the country were all found inside. According to Europol, a total of 364 travel bags were being prepared to be sent to China, and could have been able to carry more than five tons of eels.

The video also shows the 350 kilograms of live elvers, being released back into their natural habitat.

Daddy, why is there airport security? More than 2300 turtles seized at Jakarta international airport

Posted on January 24, 2015 by Douglas Powell

While traveling recently with daughter Sorenne, she asked why she had to go through security at the airports.

I tried to explain, but probably failed.

Maybe this turtle story will help.

Authorities in Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta Airport have foiled a bid to smuggle an astonishing 2,350 Pig-nosed Turtles out of Indonesia this week, highlighting the continuing pressure on a species sought after for its rarity and exotic looks.

The turtles, found only on the island of Papua (shared between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea) and Australia, were packaged in boxes falsely labeled as mangrove crabs and were bound for Shang Hai, China, via Singapore, where they would have been sold as pets or, in some cases, for consumption.

The seizure, made on 17th January by the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries via the Fish Quarantine Inspection Agency, is not the first of its kind. In January 2014, Indonesian officials seized more than 8,000 baby Pig-nosed Turtles hidden in suitcases suspected to be destined for Singapore and China. Shortly after that, on 12th January 2014, authorities in Hong Kong intercepted a shipment of some 2,700 Pig-nosed Turtles coming from Jakarta, Indonesia, falsely declared as live tropical fish.

“Pig-nosed Turtles are being absolutely hammered for the lucrative, but illegal pet trade” said Dr Chris R. Shepherd, Regional Director for TRAFFIC in Southeast Asia. “It is highly unlikely this species can withstand such enormous offtake.”

12 bizarre foods confiscated from U.S. borders

Posted on October 29, 2014 by Douglas Powell

From BonAppetit.com, people try to sneak in the darndest foods when they’re entering the U.S. From Argentine vicuña patties to Zambian baobab fruit, officials confiscate enough food at the border to throw a months-long (and rather exotic) feast (learn more about it right here).

U.S. Customs officials provided BonAppetit.com a copy of their records from fiscal year 2010 to 2013 listing the kinds, quantities, and countries of departure for all the food items they seized from all commercial flights into America. Meanwhile, we sent photographers to LAX to document a day’s haul at the Customs checkpoint. Here’s what we found

My fav is the Chinese long beans which can be easily purchased in L.A.

Is that 51 live turtles stuffed in your pants or you just happy to see me?

Posted on September 26, 2014 by Douglas Powell

A man has been charged with federal smuggling crimes after he was allegedly found trying to cross from Detroit into Canada with 51 live turtles in his pants, it was reported Thursday.

According to the Detroit Free Press, a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit said Kai Xu, a Canadian citizen, was trying to return to Windsor, Ontario, with the live reptiles tucked in baggies around his legs.

The newspaper reported that Gavin Shire of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service investigated the case against Xu and said there is a large demand for turtles in Asia — and not necessarily for pets.

There’s “a lot of both illegal and unregulated turtle consumption,” Shire told the paper.

Xu was stopped and arrested Aug. 5, but the criminal complaint was filed in court Tuesday.

Who takes eggs through an airport? Alleged smuggler stopped in Sydney

Posted on May 21, 2014 by Douglas Powell

Anyone who has been to Australia knows, don’t mess with customs folks.

A Czech man who allegedly tried to smuggle 16 bird eggs into Australia by hiding them in his pants has been charged.

The 39-year-old was frisked at Sydney Airport by customs officers after arriving from Dubai on Tuesday.

“Officers … allegedly found 16 small eggs concealed in his groin area,” Customs NSW commander Tim Fitzgerald said.

Government vets are trying to identify the species of bird.

How many don’t get caught; who smuggles clams from Philly to NYC? A fish market in caught

Posted on June 27, 2012 by Douglas Powell

The owner of a Chinatown fish market was arrested yesterday for allegedly selling dangerously dirty clams that she smuggled in on the luggage racks of passenger buses, sources told The Post.

Jin Hua Ke, 51, faces up to four years in jail if convicted of illegal commercialization of wildlife and other charges.

Tests showed high levels of fecal matter and other bacteria that made the clams unfit for human consumption, said Department of Environmental Conservation police, who are investigating the clam scam along with Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

“Bottom line is this: Would you want to eat something stored in the luggage cart of a bus since at least Philadelphia?” said DEC Officer Brent Wilson.

Authorities estimate that more than 5,400 pounds of freshwater clams — illegal to import and sell in New York — were trucked from Southern states and delivered to the New Lin Sichuan Fish Market, at 30 Market St., over six months.

Packaged in burlap, about a dozen packages would arrive on each bus Mondays and Tuesdays, according to local shopkeepers.

2 years for Las Vegas man who smuggled iguana meat

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Douglas Powell

A 38-year-old Las Vegas man was sentenced Thursday to two years in federal prison after admitting that he tried to smuggle 159 pounds of iguana meat from Mexico into the U.S.

The Los Angeles Times reports Eliodoro Soria Fonseca admitted in San Diego federal court that he intentionally concealed the iguana meat inside several coolers because he lacked the necessary import permits from the U.S. or Mexican governments. The meat was to be sold for human consumption, prosecutors said.

Iguana meat often carries salmonella, officials said. Fonseca was arrested attempting to cross the border at Otay Mesa on June 10, 2011.

The iguanas had been beheaded, skinned and deboned and hidden under several pounds of fish, according to court documents.

Importation of iguana meat is permitted but only under restrictions meant to keep from depleting certain populations of the lizard. The iguana is listed as imperiled but not yet endangered, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Man tries to smuggle live baby bear, panthers, leopards and monkeys in suitcase at Thailand airport

Posted on May 14, 2011 by Douglas Powell

Students travelling home to live in your parent’s basement after graduation today – don’t try this.

Noor Mahmoodr, a 36-year-old citizen of the United Arab Emirates, was detained soon after midnight by undercover officers at a Bangkok airport with a baby bear, a pair of panthers, two leopards and some monkeys – all aged under two months – in his cases.

The man, who was trying to get the creatures onto a first-class flight to Dubai from Suvarnabhumi airport, was charged with smuggling endangered species out of Thailand, according to Colonel Kiattipong Khawsamang of the Nature Crime Police.

He said one of the bags had been abandoned in an airport lounge because the animals were being too noisy.

The animals were taken into the care of local veterinarians.

Amish smugglers’ raw milk run

Posted on February 5, 2011 by Douglas Powell

In January, The Daily rode along on a raw milk smuggling run. Excerpts below.

Wearing a black-brimmed country hat, suspenders and an Amish beard, "Samuel" unloaded his contraband from an unmarked white truck on a busy block in Manhattan (New York, not Kansas).

He was at the tail end of a long smuggling run that had begun before dawn at his Pennsylvania farm. As he wearily stacked brown cardboard boxes on the sidewalk, a few upscale clients in the Chelsea neighborhood lurked nearby, eyeing the new shipment hungrily.??Clearly, they couldn’t wait to get a taste.??

Samuel is part of a shadowy community of outlaw Amish and Mennonite dairy farmers who risk fines, loss of equipment and product, and even imprisonment to transport raw milk across state lines and satisfy a burgeoning appetite for illegal raw milk in places like New York.

Samuel has more than 140 customers waiting for him, ready to pay $6 a gallon. ??Samuel’s smuggling run started in Pennsylvania’s Amish country, where his family farm is located. As Amish doctrine prohibits him from operating an automobile, he paid a non-Amish person to drive. ??The final destination was an unmarked converted factory on the eastern edge of Chelsea.

Churning out the product??In mid-January, I paid a visit to Amish country to explore the roots of the raw milk supply chain. The dairy farm I visited was run by Isaac, an Amish raw milk black-marketer who, like Samuel, agreed to discuss his operation on the condition that his identity was concealed.??

Isaac, wearing traditional Amish clothing and an Amish beard, nodded in agreement. ??Maurer dismissed the FDA’s findings on raw milk, saying he’s never heard of anyone getting more than a bellyache from the stuff. ??For Isaac, the issues are cultural. When it comes to dairy farming, becoming a smuggler was the only way to maintain a pure, Amish way of life.“

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