The dog's name was Coca Cola. Her belly was full of the real thing -- cocaine.
The newest, nastiest ploy of drug dealers smuggling their wares into the country emerged this weekend at JFK -- surgically implanting cocaine inside the abdomen of a dog.
"It's a brutal thing, really brutal," said Inspector Harold Badaracco at JFK. "I couldn't imagine it because I didn't think anybody could be so cruel. They obviously were going to kill the dog."
Customs agents said that Friday, a 4-year-old female English sheep dog who was "malnourished and really lethargic" showed up on a flight from Colombia.
Over the years, inventive smugglers have tried many strange methods to transport drugs, or using "mules": inside false legs, inside a dead baby, inside the cadavers of Vietnam War servicemen.
"I've seen it in dead fish, especially large tropicals. They put vials into their mouth," said Mr. Badaracco. "But never, never inside a dog."
Agents called in veterinarian Steven Weinstein from the nearby Howard Beach Animal Clinic, who X-rayed the dog and found 10 coke-filled condoms worth $50,000 on the street.
Dr. Weinstein believes someone cut a hole in the dog's flank, inserted the drugs between the abdominal wall and stomach, and crudely sewed her back up.
Officials believe the drug dealers starved the dog for a month before shipping her to Queens.
On Saturday, John Erik Roa, 22, of Paterson, N.J., showed up to retrieve his canine cargo, but ran into customs agents instead.
By Sunday, he'd admitted he knew cocaine was inside the dog, agents said. He was arraigned late yesterday by Magistrate Roanne Mann and charged in a criminal complaint with drug trafficking.
He was not charged with cruelty to animals.
So far, several customs agents have offered to adopt the dog. And the unwitting smuggler seems to be recovering completely.
"I would assume somebody was going to shoot the dog," said Dr. Weinstein. "Instead, she's looking fine now. And she's eating like a horse."