Curious case of the chihuahua in the holdall
High-flying dog stuns officers
Saturday October 24 2009
THEY have uncovered hauls of heroin, machetes, ninja swords and enough smuggled cigarettes to turn even the most ardent nicotine fan green.
But one customs officer at Dublin Airport yesterday could barely believe his eyes.
A nondescript holdall was passed through the x-ray scanner and spotted in the middle was the delicate outline of a tiny pooch -- who was standing to attention and ready for a Crufts inspection.
The pocket-sized black and tan chihuahua had been on an epic journey for someone so small. It was smuggled from Bulgaria to Madrid, Spain, and then on to Dublin, all the time hidden in his master's carry-on bag.
The little stowaway managed to go undetected throughout his trans-European odyssey. It wasn't until landing in Dublin that his cover was blown.
While it was unclear what exactly gave officers from the Revenue's Customs Service pause for thought, they suspected something was amiss and asked the dog's owner, a Romanian man in his 30s, to place his bag on the belt to be scanned. There on the screen was the unmistakable outline of a tiny dog.
Alert
"Customs officers asked him to put it though the scanner. They're always very alert. They saw something and decided it should be scanned," explained a Revenue spokesperson.
"When customs officers examined the luggage the image of a dog in a small cage appeared on the x-ray screen."
While Paris Hilton might think nothing of transporting her chihuahua Tinkerbell in her designer handbag, this appears to be a first for customs officers.
The dog -- whose name was not known -- was handed over to officials from the Department of Agriculture and Food and was last night in quarantine.
It is unlikely to be released any time soon as pets that are imported into Ireland without an EU pet passport must spend at least six months in quarantine before they are freed.
As for the dog's owner, Revenue said a file was being prepared for the DPP in relation to the offence.
- Breda Heffernan
Irish Independent
