Pecunia non olet? Yes, it does!

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You may have seen drug detection dogs at various airports – in Düsseldorf, DE you can come across one that detects cash. Luke is a three-year-old shepherd trained to find large amounts of paper money.

As you will know, if you bring more than €10,000 cash into the European Union, you need to declare that. Luke has found about 1.2 million euro within six months - nothing illegal so far. He is trained to sniff euro, pound, US dollar and Turkish lira notes; apparently the combination of the material ("paper", polymer) and the colors used for the notes are specific enough for canine detector cells.

Luke is quite calm, passengers moving spontaneously are OK for him, and he even tolerates curious kids. (Passengers who are afraid of dogs can of course ask to be controlled - see below - by a human.) What I found interesting is that the "sniffing procedure" is extremely short, just a second or two. After 20 minutes of work, he needs a break that is at least as long ...

Source: Article in German, with 7 photos

Christian

[<k>]

(Passengers who are afraid of dogs can of course ask to be controlled by a human.)

That threw me briefly. In this context, the German word "kontrolliert" is best translated as "inspected", rather than "controlled".

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Thanks - fixed, in a way.   What I found odd about this story (which was published about a week ago; had not seen it so far) is all that extra information it provides. Luke ist the only canine "cash sniffer" in Germany especially trained for contacts with humans. So I should, if I was a cash smuggler, be a little safer when I fly to or from elsewhere? And if he is familiar particularly with EUR, GBP, USD and TRY, should I prefer Swiss francs or Australian/Canadian dollars?

Somehow I am inclined to believe they have more than one dog like Luke in Germany but won't tell us about the others ...

Christian

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Likely, most sniffer dogs are out for drugs and that's always criminal. Heaps of banknotes may be an offence or it may be criminal. If Luke found only offenders he is less efficient than other dogs. If he is the only dog with this specialty, he may be a test programme. The article may be part of a bureaucratic war over the fate of the programme.

Peter

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More dogs like that.

At the airport in Cologne, a 3-year-old shepherd can sniff cash that travelers hide from customs. (Cash amounts exceeding €10,000 have to be declared.) Skadi is specialized in euro and US dollar notes, but she can find money from elsewhere too. Her biggest single find so far: €250,000 in a passenger's bag at CGN airport.

Of course Luke and Skadi are not the only canine cash sniffers. Here is a story in English about another "money dog", working in Frankfurt.

[Tirant]

When i read these things i think that i should train the Tirantdog to sniff and find cash. Then i realize that it could get me in trouble since she would jump on anyone who carries cash, so maybe it would be better to leave things as they are

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