Finnish Customs dog spots tobacco

In an attempt to curb the illegal import of cigarettes, the Finnish Customs is using a dog that has been trained to detect tobacco. This Labrador retriever, working in the Eastern Customs District, is the first tobacco sniffer-dog in Finland.
      In recent years, the large-scale smuggling of tobacco and cigarettes has grown dramatically, while at the same time, alcohol smuggling has plummeted as a result of the reduction in alcohol tax in March 2004. Bringing in cigarettes is a more profitable business for smugglers.
     
"If smuggling activities increase, the authorities have to come up with new methods. We have trained a dog in pilot trials, and after gathering some experience we are to decide whether or not we should train more tobacco sniffer-dogs", says Ari Nieminen, the head of the the Customs training centre for dogs, located in Veikkola, Kirkkonummi, about thirty kilometres west of Helsinki.
      The work of the sniffer-dog will be monitored at least until the end of the current year before deciding whether or not it is to get colleagues.
     
According to Nieminen, tobacco dogs have been used extensively for example in Eastern Europe, reportedly with very good results.
     
The canine tobacco detective started its work already last autumn, but the Customs has kept quiet about this experiment.
      The sniffer-dog is working in South-Eastern Finland, but the Customs is unwilling to disclose its precise location.
      "The dog's work is mobile. However, we would be missing our target if it were common knowledge at which border station the sniffer-dog is working", Nieminen argues.
      The tobacco detector dog has not actually detected anything as yet, as it has been on a long sick leave after undergoing an operation.
     
Last year the Customs confiscated a total of 28.3 million cigarettes in connection with criminal activities. The number was over double what it was in the previous year. The majority of the seizures were made in the Eastern Customs District. Approximately 75 percent of all illicit cigarettes brought into Finland come from Russia.
     
Cigarettes have been smuggled for example, in the structures of vehicles, within the inner walls of lorry trailers and containers, intermingled with goods that are properly declared, or alternatively the goods have simply been falsely declared at the time of importation.
      The Customs already has around forty drug sniffer-dogs available. These dogs have proven to be crucial to the detection of concealed drugs. The majority of them are Labrador retrievers.
     
Following the reduction in alcohol tax, and the removal of personal import restrictions of alcohol from EU countries, the illegal markets for alcohol have become smaller, according to the estimates of the Finnish Customs. Consequently, smugglers are currently focusing their activities on illicit cigarettes.
      Moreover, in terms of money, the tax value of the confiscated alcohol in 2005 was just a fraction of the EUR 5 million estimated value for tobacco products. The majority of the confiscated cigarettes are targeted for the Finnish market.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  FACTFILE: Consumption grew after tax cuts (5.1.2006)
  Significant rise in overall alcohol consumption in Finland last year (25.2.2005)
  Stricter surveillance reduced illicit trade in Russian alcohol (21.6.2004)

Links:
  Finnish Customs
  National Board of Customs 2005: Drug detector dogs at Finnish Customs