RALEIGH - The seizure last week of more than 70 pounds of powdered
cocaine -- the largest drug bust in Wake County Sheriff Donnie
Harrison's tenure -- was largely the work of an officer who has spent
much of his career on a short leash.

"He's about to retire," Harrison said of the officer, a 13-year-old
Belgian Malinois named Thor. "This is a good thing for him to go out
on." During at least nine years of service to the sheriff's office,
Thor has done several jobs with the K-9 unit. In recent years, he has
been dedicated to sniffing out narcotics. He has helped his human
colleagues find illegal drugs inside buildings, in fields and
automobiles. His handler, Deputy Roy Wilbourne, said Thor once found
60 pounds of marijuana in buried trash cans. Friday afternoon's bust
began with a traffic stop.

A member of the department's drug interdiction unit was on patrol when
he saw a tour bus run a traffic light and turn left at Wakefield and
West Gannon streets, in a residential area of Zebulon.

The officer called for assistance and stopped the bus. Responding to
the call, Wilbourne released Thor from a carrier in the back of his
Dodge Durango. The dog, trained to alert his handler when he smells
cocaine, marijuana, heroin or methamphetamines, scratched at two of
the bus' rear tires, indicating the whiff of drugs.

So confident is Wilbourne in Thor's olfactory detective work that
officers called in a local tire company to help jack up the bus,
remove the tires and saw them open. The process took more than four
hours. Inside the brand new $500 Michelins, Harrison said, officers
found custom-made steel casings bolted together between the tire and
the wheel. "It took some time to do this," Harrison said of the
scheme. "A drug dealer doesn't have anything to do but come up with
creative ways to hide his drugs. The creativity is
unbelievable."

Harrison said his department tries to keep up by sending officers to
schools around the country to learn about smuggling trends.
Departments frequently trade information, he said.

Tour buses are a popular addition to drug smugglers' repertoire,
especially with the increased security at airports since Sept. 11. In
2002, U.S. Customs Service inspectors found 1,554 pounds of cocaine
and 2,058 pounds of marijuana in a bus that came into El Paso from
Mexico. In May of this year, customs officers found 1,196 pounds of
marijuana in the floor compartment of a bus coming into California
from Mexico.

Harrison said officers don't know where the bus involved in the bust
Friday was headed or where it originated. The only two people aboard,
[redacted] were charged with four felonies each. They remain in
the Wake County jail with bail set at $4 million.

Thor isn't gloating over the arrests. After a good bath and a
coat-conditioning treatment, he was back at work Wednesday with
Wilbourne. In the past few months, Wilbourne has noticed a drop in
Thor's stamina. On a long search, he needs more rest than in his
rookie days. He still has a good nose for drugs, but his snout has
gone gray.

Although he is still certified for another 10 months, Thor will retire
in August, when his replacement arrives and begins training. "He'll be
on retirement status, but he'll still work some," said Wilbourne, who
hopes the dog will spend his retirement years at Wilbourne's home.
"You gotta think, a dog 13 years old, who's been working all his life,
he doesn't know anything else. He doesn't know how to just be a lap
dog." As an emeritus, Thor will likely step up his public appearances,
with school groups and civic clubs. He may also be called up for the
occasional search, which he conducts solely for the promise of getting
to play with a tennis ball when he's done.

"If I could get all my deputies to work that cheap, I'd be in good
shape," Harrison said.