Thread: Drug dog sniffs out $1M worth of cocaine

http://www.kvoa.com/Global/story.asp?S=4437130

Lupita Murillo Reports
Drug dog sniffs out $1M worth of cocaine
Jan 31, 2006, 09:06 PM EST

Drug dog sniffs out $1M worth of cocaine

One million dollars worth of cocaine and a record number of vehicles were seized at the border Monday,.thanks to the powerful nose of a four-legged Customs and Border Protection Officer.

Watch Commander Hector Noriega says, "Under the bed liner, somebody has built a non-factory compartment where they hide cocaine."

Noriega is the watch commander at the Deconcini Port of Entry. It was on his watch some of the seizures took place.

"We had three cocaine loads -- 2 non-factory-compartment loads."

Non-factory compartments are secret areas installed by narcotics smugglers like in a gas tank.

Noriega explains, "The smugglers emptied it out and welded a compartment here. Weld it shut, gasoline goes around it."

Because the secret compartment in the gas tank was so big, the vehicle ran out of gas at the border.

Not all compartments are used to smuggl illegal goods into the U.S.

One van had a fake floor. Officers believe it was going to be used to smuggle money into Mexico.

A furry 4-legged federal officer is lending a hand -- or more specifically, his nose -- to help secure our nation's border and he's also bilingual.

"Snappy dame la mano"..."good mano." "Snappy, give me your hand."

Snappy is on the front lines sniffing out the drugs hidden in the secret compartments. Officials say drug dogs' noses are head-and-shoulders above human's noses.

Ken Baxter, who heads the canine unit, says, "The dog, by far, has a keen nose, probably a million times greater than a human beings. I'll give you an example. If you were to smell a pizza from the front door, he smelled it down the block."

And that's how Customs and Border Protection officers were able to sniff out one million dollars worth of cocaine on Monday.

Snappy for President! Could he be worse than the one we have?