PASSENGERS FROM THE 10.30am Ryanair flight from Brussels Charleroi file into Shannon airport’s arrivals terminal and line up to go through passport control. Nearby, a five-and-a-half-year-old black Labrador, Shadow, prepares to go to work as his handler, Lorraine, places a light harness on him. Shadow’s mission? To sniff out and detect illicit drugs.

With a direct train link to Amsterdam, the Brussels flight is regarded by customs authorities in Shannon as one of the more “at-risk” routes for drug-smuggling. As the passengers line up with passports in hand to go through to the arrivals hall, Lorraine and Shadow walk up briefly to each one in their routine search.

One woman in the queue wearing dark sunglasses in the poorly lit hall may raise alarm bells amongst amateur profilers, but Shadow quickly brushes past her. He shows no interest either in a twentysomething couple, while a family with two young children are anxious to pet the canine detective.

A handsome dog with a gleaming black coat, Shadow is used to strangers’ affection. But he is focused on the job in hand and continues his patrol of passengers on the flight.

As Shadow makes his way down through the line, the members of the queue nearer the front start to “rubberneck” to see what quarry Shadow might come across. Three-quarters of the way down, Shadow stops in front of a tall, blonde woman wearing a long grey coat, a business suit and black shoes. A business traveller from Brussels coming home for the weekend, most likely – but a drugs mule?

Shadow’s tail is wagging furiously and he will not leave her side. Bingo! His actions are enough for Lorraine and two colleagues to pull the woman out of the queue as the other passengers in the line nudge and whisper to each other.

The woman quickly surrenders a small plastic bag from her pocket, which contains 10 grams of herbal cannabis. However, what Shadow and the passengers don’t realise is that this is not a drug bust as the woman is an undercover customs official placed in the queue to test Shadow’s sharpness.

Not that his sharpness is in dispute. Shadow’s sense of smell – like that of his canine colleagues on the customs canine drugs detection team – is 50 times better than a human’s.

Highlighting Shadow’s detection powers, Lorraine explains: “We have had incidents of Shadow carrying out a ‘detection’ of a person suspected of carrying drugs, and it turns out after questioning that the person was not carrying drugs at all, but was smoking cannabis prior to the flight and the smell remained on the person.”

Last year, Shadow made 14 successful seizures at Shannon, accounting for drugs (mainly cannabis resin) worth €16,415, out of a total of €411,487 worth seized at the airport. The lack of routes to Shannon from “high-risk” destinations, such as Amsterdam, South Africa or South American countries, partially accounts for the fact that the haul is not higher.

SHADOW IS ONEof the 11 drug detection dogs employed by the customs service to detect drugs at the country's ports and airports. Last year, the dogs – Thatcher, Toby and Buster at Dublin airport, Max and Jet in Cork, Lulu and Chip at Dublin port, Alfie in Waterford, Dillon at Rosslare, and Mickey in Sligo, Border and Midlands, and Shadow – recovered €19.7 million worth of drugs in 709 separate seizures.

Their success is part of the reason why “drug mules” are increasingly resorting to the desperate measure of digesting pellets of cocaine or amphetamine to avoid detection.

Dillon seized the largest amount, at €19 million worth of drugs, at Rosslare port and it resulted in the springer spaniel being named Person of the Month recently by listeners to local radio station South East Radio.

But such exploits don’t always receive universal acclaim. One of Dillon’s predecessors, Jake, who was responsible for the seizure of €11 million worth of drugs at the same port, was “kidnapped” for a number of days in 1995 and the gardaí who recovered the golden retriever said that he wouldn’t have been alive for much longer if he had not been rescued.

More recently, it was reported that criminal elements in Limerick had put out a contract on a two-and-a-half-year-old springer spaniel, Rocky, because of his success in sniffing out drugs in the visiting area of Limerick prison, where, in his first stint on duty, 30 seizures a day were being recorded.

Such incidents show why Lorraine doesn’t wish to be identified for this article, as she fears it could endanger Shadows life.

The bond between handlers and the detection dogs is strong and, like the others in the team, Shadow lives with his handler. The dog’s living quarters are contained in a specially- built kennel, funded by the customs service, in Lorraine’s back garden.

“We spend a lot of time together,” she says. “He is part of our family. I see him first thing in the morning and even on his days off. We always go for walks. He has a lovely nature. People really warm to him.”

Keeping Shadow motivated in his search for drugs is the prospect of a reward, in the form of play or a run, when he achieves a detection.

“There is no play at all with Shadow at home. It is not allowed – they are the rules,” says Lorraine. “So when he is loaded into the van in the morning to come to work at the airport, he sees it as a chance to play and looks forward to playing with a tennis ball. So Shadow knows that if he does achieve a detection, he is going to chase a tennis ball, which he loves.”

Last year, the canine programme cost €1.5 million, while the initial costs of setting up each dog team, made up of a handler and a dog, amount to €56,000. All the dogs are trained at the canine unit of the Defence Animal Centre (DAC) in Leicestershire in the UK.

The initial training period for the dogs is eight to nine weeks and the training process is similar for almost any odour they are being trained to detect. For weeks, the dogs are given multiple items to smell in succession. When they come to the target odour – cannabis or cocaine, for example — they get a reward. Eventually, they associate the odour with the reward.

OTHER ENFORCEMENT AGENCIESin Ireland and Europe use dogs to detect explosives, food and people, while the massive increase in counterfeit DVD traffic has resulted in dogs being trained to detect the polycarbonate plastic in the discs.

Science is still many years away from creating an instrument as sensitive, flexible or sophisticated as a dog’s nose and, in the US, dogs are now being trained to detect cancer in people.

The customs team contains one dog, Storm, who is trained to detect cash at Dublin airport.Last year, Storm made 125 separate cash seizures, including one of €279,450 in luggage on a flight destined for Portugal and another of €100,000 in luggage bound for Spain.

The manager of the customs dog unit, Maria Ryan, says: “The canine programme has been a major success for Revenue’s customs service since its inception in 2001. Over the years the dogs have detected enormous quantities of drugs, cigarettes and cash. The detector dog teams maintain a high public visibility at the ports, airports, postal depots and freight forwarders’ premises in which they routinely operate.”

Ryan adds that “since 1993 we have increased the number of dog teams deployed from six to 12. An additional team will be deployed in 2009, bringing the total to 13. We measure their value, not just in terms of what they detect, but in terms of their ability to deter potential smugglers as well. It’s not just Revenue, but, I think it’s fair to say, the whole country that owes a debt of gratitude to these dogs for their work in protecting our borders and keeping us safe.”

Meanwhile, back in Shannon airport, Shadow isn’t too fussed about his latest drug haul as he seeks out a tennis ball near the baggage carousel in the now empty arrivals terminal.

When Shadow retires in three years’ time, his playtime will no longer be connected to the detection of cocaine and herbal cannabis, and will instead take place on beaches and in parks seven days a week.

Lorraine says that after he steps down from his post, Shadow will continue to live with her. “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she insists.

Sniffing around: dogs and crime

• In 2008, the 11 drug detection dogs working in the State's Canine Programme helped in the seizure of €19.7 million worth of drugs.
• In 2008, the 11 drug detection dogs working in the State's Canine Programme helped in the seizure of €19.7 million worth of drugs.
• Since 1993, the numbers on the canine programme have expanded from six to 12, with a new dog being added this year.
• The training period for a dog on the canine programme is eight to nine weeks.
• Dogs commence their service at around 18 months to two years of age and generally work up to the age of seven.
• The canine programme also includes a dog that detects cash. Last year, in two separate seizures at Dublin airport, Storm helped to uncover €379,450.