Abstract:
The use of customs dogs has been a successful tactical tool for detecting smuggled and hidden illicit drugs
and narcotics worldwide for more than 65 years.
The World Customs Organization (WCO) has created a network of 18 Regional Dog Training Centers for
the training of Customs dogs in different detection techniques.
Organized crime is increasingly using the regular transport of goods in containers as a means of transport
for their drug shipments. In Europe, the main ports of entry are the seaports in Belgium and the Netherlands
and also the German seaports of Hamburg and Bremerhaven.
The control of containers is difficult because they have to be individually filtered out of the stacked
containers and effectively controlled, which is time-consuming and costly.
A new customs dog technique was developed at the main customs office (Hauptzollamt) Bremen, with
which the air can be sucked out of several containers and collected and fed to the sniffer dogs for sampling.
This new technique makes it possible to inspect more containers and to carry out this inspection faster and
more cost-effectively. This technique should lead to more targeted and better results when detecting drugs
in containers. It was developed by the Bremerhaven customs dog handler Horst-Dieter Träger (PoolingMethod oder Träger-Method) and it is now also being trained and distributed in the customs dog schools
of the General Customs Directorate. In the future, this should not only be limited to Germany but should
lead to an improvement in the detection rate of drugs in containers worldwide within the framework of the
World Customs Organization.
