National Archives 1985: Semtex shortage for training sniffer dogs at the Maze prison

Semtex sniffer dogs at the Maze prison were barely able to detect Semtex during the late 1980s, top secret files have revealed.

At a time when the almost odourless plastic explosive was the weapon of choice for republican terrorists, the security forces struggled to get their hands on it for training purposes.

A senior figure from the Northern Ireland Office’s (NIO) prisons and security operations division said: “The unfortunate truth is that some two to three weeks after training, our dogs are no longer able to identify Semtex as they receive no practice whatsoever in its detection. Our flank is completely exposed from this point of view, and is set to remain so unless steps are taken to iron out whatever barriers there are to the release of quantities of Semtex to interested agencies.”