Dog sniffs drugs at the airport

A sniffer dog was instrumental in nabbing a Libyan man who allegedly tried to smuggle heroin into the island through the airport.

Customs said the man, 24, was caught with 766 grammes of heroin in his luggage on his arrival from Tripoli on Tuesday afternoon.

The first sign that his bag might contain drugs came from the sniffer dog Ringo, who reacted to the luggage as the Customs drug detection squad performed routine duty at the airport.

A spokesman for the Customs Department said the passenger was stopped by Customs officers as he was passing through the Green Channel and his bag was scanned by an X-Ray machine.

The suspicions were confirmed when a substance, which later turned out to be heroin, was found hidden in a false bottom, the department said.

The man was handed over to the police drug squad.