Pubdate: Thu, 12 Apr 2001 Source: Age, The (Australia) Copyright: 2001 The Age Company Ltd Contact: http://www.theage.com.au/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5 Author: Les Kennedy Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine) SNIFFER DOG ENDS TRAINING RUN WITH HUGE COCAINE FIND What began as a routine training exercise for Billy the police drug detection dog ended in the fortuitous seizure of $13 million worth of cocaine from a rental storage complex in Sydney yesterday. Billy was rewarded with a pat, praise and a biscuit by his handler Sergeant Peter Ryan. But the sergeant, one of four handlers with the NSW police dog squad, whose labradors are dedicated to drug detection, did not know the extent of the discovery - which proved to be one of the largest cocaine hauls in the state - until several hours after the find. Sergeant Ryan had taken the three-year-old Labrador to a self-storage facility for a series of training exercises aimed at acquainting him with search scenarios. Within 30 minutes of being put through his paces, Billy came to a halt alongside the orange roller doors of a rental unit inside the complex that had not been included as part of the test. In keeping with his training, there was no excited barking to indicate a find. Billy simply lay down, wagged his tail and refused to budge. Sergeant Ryan knew Billy had detected a narcotic. Within an hour, detectives from the Drugs Task Force arrived with a warrant to search the suspect unit. Task force head Superintendent Ken Mackay confirmed late yesterday that 24.4 kilograms of cocaine in bags had been found inside the storage unit. He refused to discuss how long the unit had been rented, saying "investigations were continuing". Although Billy has been fully trained since joining the police service 13 months ago from the Victoria Guide Dogs breeding program, such exercises were designed to keep the dog's mind active, said Sergeant Ryan. But he admitted that yesterday's find was the last thing he expected. Superintendent Mackay praised the work of the drug detection dog unit, which has recently been criticised for its use on marijuana growers and suppliers in the Byron Bay area. "You can spend several months on an operation and not come up with anything, but just look what these dogs can do. They're certainly paying their their way," Superintendent Mackay said. Sergeant Ryan said Billy and the three other labradors in the unit had certainly earned their keep. "They are a good friendly dog, user-friendly, easy to train ... everyone loves a labrador," he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager