Thailand’s ‘Inspector Beagles’ can be a smuggler’s worst enemy
“Inspector Beagles” have been critical in efforts to deter the smuggling of meat into Thailand, the Livestock Development Department said.
In December of last year, Inspector Beagles foiled 17 attempts to smuggle meat into the county, leading to the seizure of 64.8 kilogrammes of illegal meat worth 32,995 baht, the department said.
The14 Inspector Beagles are stationed at Suvarnabhumi International Airport’s inbound passenger building, but are sometimes deployed to other airports for special missions.
Pairs of beagles sniff arriving luggage in rotating four-hour shifts.
The department said most of the meat arrives illegally from Russia and Vietnam.
It highlighted a case that led to an arrest at noon on December 6 of last year, demonstrating that a sniffing beagle can be a smuggler’s worst enemy.
One sniffing beagle detected six packages of pork sausages weighing 9kg and three additional packs of pork smuggled by a Vietnamese national arriving from Moscow, department officials said.
The squad of sniffing beagles debuted in 2012.
They are vital for preventing the spread of foreign animal diseases, and demonstrate to the world that Thailand has the capacity to control animal diseases, officials said.
