10.08.08
Some of the techniques used by smugglers trying to get drugs in to the UK via Manchester Airport have been put on display for the first time. They include 'mules' hiding drugs in everything from teddy bears to the Koran, the Manchester Evening News reports.
The exhibition aims to show how Customs officers and sniffer dogs stay ahead of the smugglers. It also highlights how the UK Border Agency tackles people-traffickers, illegal immigrants, `excise' goods - such as cigarettes and alcohol - and helps everyday passengers.
Linda Paul, assistant director of the agency, told the newspaper: ‘Smugglers can be very sophisticated, or not sophisticated at all. Drugs can be sewn into suitcases, strapped to people's bodies, concealed internally, hidden in shoes, bag handles, in hollowed-out religious books, or in book spines and covers.'
‘We've found drugs in children's toys. You see a child clutching a teddy bear and you wouldn't think it contained drugs. And then again, sometimes we just find blocks of drugs carried quite openly in a suitcase.’
‘We have teams of officers and dogs in Manchester Airport's passenger terminals checking luggage and people and also in the air freight sheds. They are very experienced and they know what they're looking for. Once the dogs pick up the scent the officers will check and x-ray the goods.'
‘We make seizures every day, but not necessarily of drugs. We make regular drugs seizures but couldn't go any further than that. Some weeks they will be two or three, others none at all.’
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