Sniffer dog Boo uncovers illegal tobacco in East Ayrshire raids

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A sniffer dog named Boo has helped East Ayrshire Trading Standards and Police Scotland to seize illicit tobacco products from two premises in Kilmarnock and Stewarton.

Specialist sniffer dog Boo - a four-year-old Labrador-German Wirehaired Pointer cross - assisted on the raids to find counterfeit tobacco.Boo already had an “extensive track record” of sniffing out illicit tobacco and added to her haul as Trading Standards cracked down on the trade.

In the last two and a half years, more than 23,500 packets of illicit tobacco have been seized in East Ayrshire - a street value of almost £360,000.

Counterfeit tobacco products are often imported from Eastern Europe and often contain unknown and potentially poisonous substances and cheap materials.HMRC estimates that the illicit market in tobacco duty and related VAT was £2.8 billion in 2021-22.Councillor Graham Barton, Cabinet spokesperson for Trading Standards said: “Thanks to a culmination of intelligence from various sources, including vigilant members of the public, we were able to pinpoint the premises and carried out our visits accompanied by our colleagues in Police Scotland.“Boo proved her worth as always, quickly finding the products we were after, despite the best efforts of the culprits to conceal the evidence – in one case Boo was able to find them even although they were concealed behind a false panel at the back of a cupboard which contained large quantities of chilli powder in a futile attempt to foil her sense of smell.“This is another important step in our bid to protect both businesses and the public from the hazards presented by this illicit trade.