Airlines nose out smugglers

Regional airlines have joined the NT police in the fight to stop the flow of cannabis to remote communities.

Detectives from the Remote Community Drug Desk have used sniffer dogs since last December to catch drug runners who use planes, barges and freight trucks to transport cannabis.

In 24 hours at Darwin airport this week, the Labradors Monte and Scent sniffed out cannabis hidden in a baby nappy wipes container, a powder container covered with tomato sauce, and a can of deodorant.

A 24-year-old woman bound for the Tiwi Islands was caught with 25g of cannabis tightly wrapped in the baby wipes container on Monday.

Sniffer dogs also found 40g of cannabis sealed in 14 large deal bags in a powder container smeared with tomato sauce and allegedly belonging to a 25-year-old Wadeye woman.

When leaving the airport terminal the dogs also sniffed out 3g of cannabis inside the lid of a can of deodorant belonging to a Darwin man.

Acting Sergeant Micheal Sharkey said anecdotal evidence suggested the crackdown was having an effect on the availability of cannabis in the Territory’s remote communities.

“We don’t have any hard and fast figures but anecdotal evidence suggests the strategy to work with freight carriers using drug sniffer dogs is making a difference and cannabis is becoming harder to source in remote communities,” he said.

“The freight carriers were unanimous in their support of the strategy when police met them last December to discuss access to their cargo.

“Our drug dogs are able to detect any quantity of drugs – they have even picked up a grain of cannabis that had been in the bottom of one passenger’s bag for three weeks.

“My message to drug couriers is if you take the risk there’s a good chance you will be caught.”

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Thur, 10 March 2005
Source: Northern Territory News (Australia)
Author: Greg McLean
Copyright: 2005 Northern Territory News
Contact: ntnmail@ntn.newsltd.com.au
Website: http://ntnews.news.com.au/