New illicit drugs/narcotics customs sniffing dog detection technique (pooling technique) for stacked sea containers

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Federal Customs Service of Germany

FOM University of Applied Sciences in Economics and Management

Center of Customs Law and Customs Research

New illicit drugs/narcotics customs sniffing dog detection technique (pooling technique) for stacked sea containers

C. Weerth

Annotation

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 Centres 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 Trager (Pooling Method oder Trager-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.

Key words: Container, Customs controls, Illicit Drugs, Narcotics, Smuggling, Detection Dogs, Drug detection, Dog Training, Sniffing Dog, World Customs Organization, War on Drugs.

Анотація

Новий метод виявлення незаконних наркотиків/наркотичних речовин у морських контейнерах за допомогою службових собак (метод об'єднання)

К. Веерт, Федеральна митна служба Німеччини, Університет прикладних наук економіки та менеджменту FOM, Центр митного права та митних досліджень

Introduction

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. In Germany, for example, there have been two customs dog schools for training customs dogs since 1958 (BMF, zoll.de).

The first dogs were used in Germany for border control and customs matters as early as 1907 (BMF, 2007). The idea of a customs detection dog is as old as 1911 (Roddies, 2021). Privately owned suitable Customs dogs as protective dogs have been used as early as 1922 in Germany's Customs service (Roddies, 2021). In 1969 the first illicit drugs/narcotis detection dogs were trained in Germany (Roddies, 2021).

The World Customs Organization (WCO) is organizing the global capacity building of the customs authorities of its member states and their customs officers also in the field and on the topic of dog training - it has therefore created a network of 18 Regional Dog Training Centers (RDTC) for the training of Customs dogs (WCO, 2022). Dogs can be trained to detect different commodies such as smuggled money (bank notes of different currencies), illicit drugs / narcotics, tobacco, explosives, weapons or wildlife (Roddies, 2021).

Organized crime is increasingly using the regular transport of goods in containers as a means of transport for their illicit 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 - in the top ten ranking there are of course also harbours in Spain, France, Italy and Greece (porteconomics.eu, 2023).

The customs control of containers coming directly from the ships on the sea side is difficult because they are directly stacked in high clusters and have to be picked up and filtered individually out of the stacked containers to be effectively controlled in detail e.g. by help of a detection dog, 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 technique makes it possible to inspect more containers and to carry out this inspection faster and more cost-effectively. It was developed by the now retired customs dog handler Horst-Dieter Trager (pooling method or Trager method) and is now also being trained and distributed in the customs dog schools of the General Customs Directorate of Germany.

Newly developed sucking and pooling technique for illicit drug detection dogs

The Main Customs Office Bremen has presented a newly developed method for detecting narcotics in sea containers on the terminal site in the Bremerhaven free zone which can be tracked on site (Main Customs Office Bremen, 2023).

The method was developed by the main customs office (Hauptzollamt, HZA) in Bremen with the participation of the customs dog school of German Customs dog training centre in Bleckede (Genearal Customs Directorate). The new technology expands the potential for use of drug detection dogs at customs and complements the previously successfully used techniques to prevent drug smuggling. canine service dog contraband drug container

The newly invented pooling technology can be used on three stacked containers in a row and is sucking the air out of the container. The extraction technology creates an odour carrier that can be detected at a later point in time, protected from external influences, so that the use of this technology would also be possible if the sniffer dogs were to be tied down by parallel deployments (Main Customs Office Bremen, 2023).

In addition, an odour carrier can be created by a lighter backpack solution. With the rucksack, the interior air can also be extracted in places where a container is stored that is particularly difficult to access, for example in cramped conditions or at greater heights with containers stacked on top of one another (Main Customs Office Bremen, 2023).

The customs officer Horst-Dieter Trager has developed a device that sucks air out of large shipping containers. Customs dogs then use this air to sniff out whether there are drugs in the container, such as cocaine or cannabis. Germany's Customs Service has demonstrated the method in the Free Zone of the Bremerhaven Container Terminal on site - three containers can be checked at the same time. A hose then leads into the container. The other end is in the developed device, a knee-high metal box. The sucked air is led through the device. The dogs can sniff at holes that are at the top of the box - if they hit a detected smell, they indicate their find (Benecke/Schmitt, 2023 and dpa, 2023).

Pictures 1 and 2. Use of air extraction technology on the container (Source: Hauptzollamt Bremen)

Source: Hauptzollamt Bremen, HZA-HB: Einsatzmoglichkeiten von Spurhunden des Zolls erweitert, Durch Absaugen der Containerinnenluft konnen Spurhunde Drogen anzeigen, Press release as of9/8/2023

Scource: Benecke/Schmitt, Mit dieser Technik sollen Zoll-Hunde in Bremerhaven mehr Drogen finden, 9/8/2023

Conclusions

The customs detection of illicit drugs / narcotics in global container sea transport is of the utmost importance in order to better detect and control the illicit trade of these commodities. The customs control of highly stacked containers is costly and time consuming, because they must be individually picked and opened for customs sniffer dogs to control the containers.

A newly developed pooling technique allows the pooling of air samples and its sniffing dog detection from containers which are stacked and therefore in place. This new pooling or Trager method allows the storage of the air particles for the later detection and has been developed by help of Germany's RDTC of the General Customs Directorate located in Bleckede.

This new technique should lead to more targeted customs controls and better results in Container controls at sea ports by help of the use of customs sniffing dogs. It should not only be available in the sea ports of Germany but must be aquired and trained by all RDTC of the WCO worldwide in order to better control the global smuggling of illicit drugs / narcotics in sea containers.

References

1. Bundesministerium der Finanzen (BMF). Zollhundewesen, Zoll online, 25/1/2007 (archived).

2. Benecke, M. and Schmitt, J., Mit dieser Technik sollen Zoll-Hunde in Bremerhaven mehr Drogen finden, 9/8/2023,

3. Drogenschmuggel: Zoll kontrolliert Luft aus Containern, News item as of 9/8/2023, dpainfocom, dpa:230809-99-779575/4,

4. Hauptzollamt Bremen (HZA Bremen). HZA-HB: Einsatzmoglichkeiten von Spurhunden des Zolls erweitert, Durch Absaugen der Containerinnenluft konnen Spurhunde Drogen anzeigen, Press release as of 9/8/2023,

5. Lange, M. and Deitschun, M. Drogen uber Bremerhaven: Wie der Zoll Schmugglern auf die Spur kommt, 12/8/2023

6. Top-15 container ports in European Union in 2022

7. Roddies, H. Der Zollhund, Seine hundertjahrige Geschichte vom Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts bis zur Gegenwart von 1922-2022, Neudettelsau, 2021

8. WCO. Argentina's Dog Training Centre accredited as a WCO Regional Dog Training Centre, Press Release, 21/1/2022

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