The specially-trained pooches can odor hidden compartments of tobacco in retailers – in addition to odor the illicit elements in unlawful vapes.
Who’s a intelligent woman then? Ziggy together with her haul (Picture: Lancashire County Council)
A £100,000 haul of unlawful vapes and cigarettes has been uncovered thanks to 2 canines – specifically skilled to smell out secret tobacco stashes. Hauls of illicit cigarettes, money and hand-rolling tobacco have been discovered at eight premises throughout a day of motion by Lancashire County Council Buying and selling Requirements and Lancashire Police on February 11.
Ziggy, a four-year-old feminine Springer Spaniel, and Hugo, a male three-year-old Cocker Spaniel, hunted down the hidden stashes throughout Nelson and Colne, in Lancashire. Greater than 12,000 packs of illicit tobacco and cigarettes have been confiscated with a road worth of greater than £100,000, plus £3,000 in money confiscated beneath the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Proud Hugo together with his stash (Picture: Lancashire County Council)
The objects have been a mix of counterfeit and unlawful unregistered manufacturers, Lancashire County Council’s Buying and selling Requirements group mentioned.
Each keen-nosed pooches borrowed from Wagtail UK – whose superb canines are skilled to smell out hidden compartments containing tobacco, vapes and cash.
As a reward for his or her on-the-ball investigative work, Hugo and Ziggy have been “excited to obtain a ball sport for every profitable discover.”
Greater than 57,000 packs of illicit cigarettes and tobacco, and greater than 27,000 illicit vapes have been confiscated from Lancashire merchants in 300 separate seizures from 162 retailers between January 2025 and January 2026.
“The variety of seizures and intelligent hiding locations that our officers have been in a position to uncover on one single day of motion reveals what they’re coping with and the excessive worth of the unlawful commerce in tobacco.
“We need to ship a really clear message to unscrupulous retailers that we’ll take the strongest motion to take away unlawful merchandise from our excessive streets.”
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