Stolen Drug Dog Found Safe
There’s a happy ending to the story of a top Mexican drug-detection dog stolen from his airport kennel last week en route to a planned bust.
Authorities had compared the crime to the kidnapping of an intelligence agent, and feared that Rex IV would help drug dealers figure out how to prevent so-called sniffer dogs from detecting their smuggled wares, as discussed in an earlier ABAJournal.com post. However, after extensive publicity about the crime, federal police investigating a tip found the highly trained Belgian Malinois sheepdog tied to a tree in a park in Mexico City, reports Reuters.
The dog’s return could have an effect on illegal drug operations here in the U.S.: Rex IV is part of an elite Mexican canine unit set up to help pursue gangs that smuggle cocaine and other drugs from South America to the United States.
The heat has been turned up recently, Reuters reports: “President Felipe Calderon has sent thousands of police and soldiers to northern and western states in a new crackdown on the cartels whose turf wars kill dozens each week,” the news agency writes.
