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Australian sniffer dogs join Chinese drug fight
By Liang Chao (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-11-18 06:13
Four Labrador dogs trained by Australian Customs graduated from a
drug-detection class and joined Chinese customs yesterday to start their
sniffing duties in Beijing.
As part of a two-year co-operation project between Australian and Chinese
customs to stem the flow of illegal drugs, about 20 trained narcotics detector
dogs will head for China in two years, a source with China General
Administration of Customs (GAC) said.
During an assignment, Quip and Mambo, two of the Labrador hounds trained to
detect narcotics, got excited hunting for heroin and other drugs concealed
inside wooden boxes and luggage placed in two rows.
"They love the work and look for the drugs because they want their toy
reward," said Su Fei, a handler at Beijing Customs, after Mambo scoured for
drugs during an exercise.
"Well-trained dogs like them are able to identify thousands of different
odours and play a big role in the battle against drug smuggling," said Bernie
Short, a chief handler from Australian Customs, an agency leading the way in
breeding and training sniffing dogs around the world.
The dogs will be deployed in Yunnan Province in Southwest China, Shenzhen in
South China and Beijing in the fight against illegal drugs.
Under the programme, Australia will also help China establish its own dog
breeding centre.
"I'm looking forward to the next phase of the programme when some pups for
the breeding arrive in China early next year," said Alan Thomas, Australian
ambassador to Beijing.
Since 1991, GAC has used 41 drug detection dogs in its agencies throughout
China.
So far this year, these dogs have detected more than 107 kilograms of drugs
including heroin, cocaine and amphetamine.
(China Daily 11/18/2005 page2)
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