Buster may have drug problem licked

WHEN it comes to drug detection, this guy’s got the problem solved. The clever canine is part of a new crack unit of sniffer dogs introduced yesterday by customs officers at Dublin Airport to help weed out drugs being smuggled into the country.

At a simulated customs check yesterday, Buster was lapping up the attention and showed he was more than up to the task. He was able to sniff out the only person out of 12 passengers carrying drugs. Job done, the black labrador sat back on his haunches and got a tennis ball as a reward.

“They associate the tennis ball with trying to find the drug scent. They know they don’t get the tennis ball until they get the scent,” said the handler, who could not be identified for security reasons.

To underline the importance of the dogs, customs officers seized 15kg of herbal cannabis as Buster and Co were displaying their talents for the media.

It follows the seizure of 30kg of herbal cannabis last Monday, bringing to 370kg the amount of the drug seized by Customs so far this year.

Customs officers hope the new recruits will aid their fight against the burgeoning trafficking in cocaine.

“Cocaine smuggling has become systematic. It has become routine and persistent in the last six months,” said Brian Smyth, assistant principal officer in the Customs’ enforcement division.

Customs officers have seized over 19kg of cocaine so far this year, with a final street value of almost 2m, compared to just 5kg for the whole of 2001.

In total, almost 31m worth of drugs have been seized so far this year.

Tom Stains, Customs enforcement manager for Dublin Airport, said the dogs will help spot the many ways smugglers try and bring in drugs. The five dogs will bring the Customs canine unit strength to 10.