HIGH-TECH SNIFFER SPOTS DRUGS

Scanner Adds To Arsenal Used At Customs

It's getting tougher to bring illegal drugs through customs at
Winnipeg International Airport as technology grows more sophisticated,
customs officials say.

One relatively new device now in use at the airport is the Ion Scan
testing machine, which Mike Molotkin, customs superintendent at the
airport, said can even detect tiny traces of drugs on currency, debit
cards and dollar bills.

"If you've been in recent contact (with the drug), then the chances of
a positive reading are higher," he told the media yesterday on
International Customs Day.

A customs official will rub a small square of cloth on the item being
tested and then insert the cloth into the machine, which will
recognize any drug traces.

The newest version of the scanner, acquired by the airport two years
ago, is Windows-based and more accurate than previous models, said
Paul Vandale, a customs officer who has worked at the airport for 16
years.

He said the machine is triggered up to four times on the average day.
"It basically picks up particles, and if you've been handling
narcotics or smoking pot, it'll pick it up," he said.

Before the first version of the machine was introduced at the airport,
the only way to detect minute traces of illicit substances was by
using a specially trained dog like Jake, a six-year-old black Labrador
retreiver.

When a new illegal drug enters the Canadian market, Jake can be
trained to identify the smell of the substance in just five minutes,
according to her handler, Connie, also a customs officer, who asked
that her last name not be used to protect Jake from being stolen or
harassed.

"He's trained to sniff out drugs and guns," she said of her canine
partner. "And he can smell right through coffee and Bounce sheets."

Another machine that is only a few years old and frequently used is
the snake-eye camera, which is used to search planes and small spaces
throughout the airport, said Vandale.

"It's relatively new," he said of the camera, which sits on the end of
a long flexible rod and is used to look into tiny nooks and crannies
not easily accessible to customs officers. Vandale says the camera has
helped to find packages of cocaine and other types of drugs. "There's
drugs coming through all the time," he said. "We catch the dumb ones."