Irena to ‘smoke out’ smuggled tobacco products at city airport

CHENNAI: The sniffer dog squad in Chennai airport increased to three, as a specially trained German Shepherd is all set to join the dog squad in January.

The dog named Irena was trained in Attari in Punjab to spot cigarettes and tobacco products from the packages. The exiting sniffer dogs, Oreo and Aarli, were also trained in Punjab and joined on duty in December 2021 when the dog squad was formed in the Chennai airport.

Oreo specialises in identifying drugs while Aarli is a specialist in identifying explosives. As tobacco products, including cigarettes, are being smuggled from abroad via the city airport, the officials here decided to increase the number of sniffer dogs in the squad. Irena will join duty here from January 2023.