Spanish police track down vet wanted for heroin smuggling

SPANISH police have captured a Colombian vet who tried to smuggle liquid heroin by surgically implanting plastic bags of the drug into live Rottweiler and Labrador puppies.

The fugitive vet, identified as Andres LE, was tracked down in the north western city of Lugo after more than eight years on the run.

He is accused of operating on the dogs at his farm in the Colombian city of Medellin.

Colombian police raided his farm in January 2005.

“They seized 3kg of liquid heroin inside six puppies. The drug was extracted from the dogs, which had been destined for the United States,” the Spanish police said in a statement on Tuesday.

The puppies each had one or two plastic bags of about 400g of liquid heroin in their abdomens.

After the Colombian police raid, the US called on police forces worldwide to detain him on suspicion of drug smuggling.