A man has been arrested for attempting to smuggle around $1 million worth of cocaine into the UK by hiding it in his pet dog’s crate.
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Jorge Pablo Samano Galas, 43, was apprehended upon arrival at Heathrow Airport in England on a flight from Mexico in May.
The alarm was raised by staff at the Animal Aircare Reception Centre on-site after they noticed that the dog crate was “unusually heavy, oddly sized and smelt strongly of paint stripper” during a routine check.
Upon closer inspection, they found ten 1 kg blocks of cocaine hidden inside a false bottom attached to the crate. Samano Galas was then arrested when he came to pick up the animal.
Under questioning, Samano Galas initially told National Crime Agency officers that he had purchased the carrier from a rescue center in Mexico a few weeks prior and booked a vacation to the UK so that the pair could “bond.”
However, investigators discovered that it cost him over $3,700 to ship the dog, and he had not purchased a return ticket. Subsequent investigations uncovered “multiple other inconsistencies” in his story, including evidence that he had repeatedly changed the dates of his trip and the route to the UK.
Samano Galas eventually pleaded guilty to importing Class A drugs and was sentenced on Friday to six years and four months in prison by a judge at Winchester Crown Court.
The reception center staff were so impressed with the two-year-old dog, Camila, that one of them has now become her new permanent owner.
“It quickly became apparent that she was a friendly, affectionate girl who thrived off meeting new people,” said Jake Holliday, head of animal welfare at Heathrow.
“We will miss her dearly – not least because her office antics kept us in hysterics – but we are so glad she will be looked after by someone who has been there with her since she first arrived.”
