Feds charge drug-pup vet
A VICIOUS veterinarian accused of turning puppies into drug mules has been brought to heel in Brooklyn.
A day after his extradition from Spain, Andres Elorza was arraigned Tuesday in Brooklyn Federal Court on an indictment charging him with surgically implanting liquid heroin into the bellies of young dogs.
Elorza, 38, allegedly carried out the ghoulish procedures so he and others in his drug ring could evade detection. Prosecutors say between September 2004 and January 2005, Elorza was a member of a Colombian conspiracy that used pups and humans as couriers. When the animals arrived in America, the narcotics were removed, authorities said.
It’s unclear how many dogs were subjected to the sickening surgery, but investigators were able to save six pooches in 2005 .
One basset hound was adopted by a Colombian National Police officer, while a Rottweiler named Heroina became a drug detection dog for Colombian authorities.
Elorza, also known as Elorez, was a fugitive for years before he was arrested in Spain in 2015.
The vet, who was born in Colombia and claims Venezuelan citizenship, pleaded not guilty and was ordered held.
His court-appointed lawyer told Magistrate Marilyn Go that Elorza had “certain psychiatric issues” as well as some kidney problems. “I think a lot of this is stress-related,” Mitchell Dinnerstein said.
“Dogs are man’s best friend, and, as the defendant is about to learn, we are drug dealers’ worst enemy,” Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue said.