XPost: alt.drugs.heroin, alt.airports, alt.politics.obama
XPost: sac.politics

NEW YORK – Two men were arrested on drug charges after heroin
was found hidden in the false bottom of a dog crate containing a
Labrador retriever that had been shipped from Puerto Rico to New
York.

Samuel Seabrooks, 35, of the Bronx, and Carlos Betancourt-
Morales, 27, of Carmel, were arraigned on drug possession and
conspiracy charges Sunday, according to the Queens district
attorney's office.

Prosecutors said Seabrook and Betancourt-Morales met up at a
Bronx IHOP restaurant Friday night and traveled in separate
vehicles to the American Airlines Priority Parcel Services at
Kennedy Airport.

The two men had a brief conversation before Betancourt-Morales
entered the cargo building and signed for a delivery receipt for
the dog crate, prosecutors said. He was stopped by police as he
pushed the crate on a rolling cart toward the building's exit.

After obtaining a search warrant, authorities recovered 10
plastic wrapped packages containing more than 22 pounds of
heroin with a street value of more than $1 million. The packages
were stamped with the Nike swoosh logo and a five-pointed star.

The two New York men face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
Information on their attorneys was not immediately available.

"Statistics show that, unfortunately, heroin has made a comeback
in New York City and its surrounding suburbs, with fatal
overdoses outpacing homicides," said Queens District Attorney
Richard Brown.

Animal rights activists condemned the use of a "helpless canine
as a drug mule," said Jean Shafiroff of the American Human
Society. She called for better animal control at New York City
airports.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/03/28/heroin-found-hidden-in-dog- crate-at-new-yorks-kennedy-airport.html

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