#Queens man attempted to sneak dogs through JFK inside luggage: feds

A Queens man attempted to smuggle two dogs from Russia through JFK inside a secret compartment in his carry-on luggage — and get another nine past customs using sketchy medical paperwork, US officials allege.

Ildar Gimadiev, 35, of Corona declared three Dobermans, four Yorkshire terriers, a Dalmatian and a Golden Retriever at Kennedy Airport customs on Sept. 8 — only for CDC reviewers to conclude their vaccination papers were possible forgeries, according to documents filed by Brooklyn federal prosecutors Monday.

Workers then discovered two more undeclared Yorkies in a “hidden compartment” while unloading Gimadiev’s carry-on dog bag at the airport kennel, prosecutors allege.

“CDC has reviewed the case and determined that 2 dogs were found in a hidden compartment of your carry-on animal carrier that were not declared,” the agency wrote in its Sept. 10 decision to deport the litter back to Russia, according to the court docs.

“Additionally, CDC has reason to believe that documents associated with this shipment may have been falsified based on several discrepancies in paperwork.”

Gimadiev, who also had a dog sent back to Russia by customs in July due to an incomplete vaccination form, has sued to keep the pups in the US, insisting his pooch paperwork is on the level and that the other dogs weren’t hidden.

“They say I am trying to smuggle. I say, listen, if I was trying to smuggle, I would not do it this way,” he told The Post on Monday. “They say it is a hidden compartment, it is not. It has two sides.”

But in the memo filed Monday, prosecutors opposed allowing the dogs to stay, citing Gimadiev’s “pattern of seeking to import dogs from the Russian Federation without securing valid rabies vaccination certificates prior to entering the United States.”

Of the nine dogs Gimadiev declared, five had rabies forms signed by a vet named “Margarita Antonova” — but with two different veterinary stamps and three different signatures, according to court docs.

Two others had forms signed by “Veronika Shishkina,” but not with the same signature. Another animal’s form was signed by “Nikita Shlyaner,” whose signature “closely resembled” that of Shishkina, the CDC concluded.

Gimadiev insisted to The Post he is just a middle-man who transports dogs to American buyers in exchange for free airfare.

He claimed the two “hidden” Yorkies were for his daughter and his niece, while the Dalmatian — named Everything’s Evil — was for his brother.

“The owners buy them from breeders all over Russia. I am just transporting them. I do not buy or sell the dogs,” Gimadiev said. “You can not get those here. The pure breed Dalmatians. The spots need to be round.”

One of the Dobermans, named Ataka Rajana Aura Victory, was bound for a breeder in Venice, Florida, called Key to My Heart Dobermans, the company confirmed.

A now-deleted June 30 post to the breeder’s Facebook page included eight photos of the pup, along with a notice that its delivery to the US was “delayed by COVID-19.”

Gimadiev’s attorney said the CDC confiscated the dogs “based on conjecture and suspicion.”

“They’re not saying the dogs didn’t have the rabies shot. They’re saying ‘I don’t trust the signature,’ ” Richard Rosenthal said. “The fact that two different vets have the same name is indicative of nothing.”

Three rabid dogs have been imported into the US in the last five years, the CDC said in its court filings — all from high-risk countries like Russia.

The federal health agency did not immediately return a request for comment.

An emergency court hearing on the dogs’ stalled departure is scheduled for Friday.